Inclusivity in Theatre for Writers and Directors

Image: Sharon Mccutcheon

Inclusivity is certainly one of the most important topics for our generation of theatre-makers. And as the theatre world is looking at more ways for it to develop, I would like to propose a gender-neutral approach to playwriting and directing.

Of course inclusivity includes (hehe) in it many aspects, but although this article will only deal with gender, it can be applied to race, age, sexuality and anything else, just as well.

One important caveat — none of what I am suggesting here is to be taken as the only solution to a very old problem. It is not meant to come on the expense of self-affirmation and visibility — it is simply another tool in our toolbox, which should be done alongside all the other options. So do not stop writing plays that are specifically representing more strong female parts, or parts specifically designed to tell gender-non-conforming stories, if that is what you have in mind — we certainly need those too.

Historically, theatrical styles are transient and change with time. Today, naturalistic representation is loved by oh so many, and as a result it seems that we’ve equated the idea of ‘truth’ to that of ‘reality’, so by wanting to create theatre that is more truthful, we want it to look more and more like the real world. However, I would argue that this may have actually stifled and crippled our imagination, and created a blinkered approach to writing and to casting, which, in turn, perpetuates an unequal industry. By simply presenting the world as it is, rather than how it can and should be, we are perhaps missing out a huge opportunity to affect people’s minds and inspire a different way of thinking.

So I would like to offer two separate ways of creating gender-neutral theatre, one for playwrights, and one for directors/casting directors, that will hopefully help in levelling-up:

Gender-neutral writing:

In 2008 I began writing Spare, a play about abuse. I knew it was going to be a comedy and I knew it was going to look at abuse in all aspects of our lives. As I was drafting various scenes between the characters, I noticed that in my head — none of them were gendered, which meant that I automatically avoided using pronouns or other…