Maiden Voyage Theatre Company aims for gender parity in theatre

A new West Australian theatre company has committed to championing gender parity in the arts and putting new plays on stage.

Launched by Western Australian playwright Liz Newell, the company’s first work, Belated, will open at the Blue Room Theatre in Perth tomorrow (12th May) and run until 28th May.

Company founder and Creative Director Liz Newell said she felt compelled to take action about gender inequality in the arts, telling the ABC “doing something feels a lot better than doing nothing.

"And once you really sit down and look at the statistics and look at what's going on in the industry, I felt I had to."

Women in Theatre, a 2012 report by the Australia Council showed that women lose out in the struggle to claim a greater share of creative leadership in Australian theatre, showing that Australia's biggest theatre companies are among the least likely to hire female writers and directors.

While women represent about two-thirds of theatre general managers and have a strong presence on theatre boards, more than 30 years after concerted efforts began to level the playing field, there are fewer female artistic directors and writers in the theatre than ever before.

Women interviewed for the report said they were being held back by an almost "feudal system of patronage" where artistic directors acted "like the monarch at the centre of their court".

Newell said little had changed since then, telling the ABC “as far as I can see there isn't one person standing on a soap box actually yelling at people that women don't have a place in the industry.

"It's just this systemic, ingrown kind of thing where - for whatever reason - we're just not really there. It's bizarre."

Newell obtained a $3,000 grant from the Westen Australian Department of Culture and the Arts to stage the production, and used her own savings to start the company and hopes to ultimately raise money through sponsorships and donors.

She said said gender parity within theatre - and the entire creative industries - was an issue many have considered, adding “someone said to me the other day that they're just so overwhelmed that something like this exists, and that it exists in Perth," she said.

"It's very humbling and very encouraging to see that's the reaction that companies like this are getting.

"It's about like-minded people banding together, under a common cause and caring enough to do something about it."

Newell wants her art to be enjoyed for its own sake, concluding “it's not 'no boys allowed', it's not 'we hate men', it's just about including people.

"It's a theatre company, we don't work for the United Nations. It's fun, it's art, it's supposed to be cool and everyone is supposed to get something out of it."

10th May 2016 - AUSTRALIA COUNCIL ANNOUNCES $11.2 MILLION BACKING FOR ARTISTS AND ARTS PROJECTS

1st April 2016 - AUSTRALIA COUNCIL INVESTS IN A NEW GENERATION OF ARTS LEADERS

1st January 2016 - VICTORIAN SPORT REPORT CALLS FOR BOARDS TO APPOINT WOMEN OR LOSE FUNDING

28th August 2013 - RECORD ARTS FUNDING IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA BUT IS IT IN THE RIGHT PLACE? 

24th April 2012 - AUSTRALIA COUNCIL FINDS WOMEN LOSE OUT IN ‘FEUDAL’ THEATRE SYSTEM