FLIPPING THE SCRIPT
Theater casting women in traditionally male roles
In Orlando an art form Shakes based artistic on director imagination, Jim Helsinger does an actor’s doesn’t gender think matter? so. More In and many more, cases, the theater is featuring women as male characters — a growing theatrical trend known as gender-blind casting. Right now on the Shakes stage, Anne Hering is playing Cardinal Richelieu in “The Three Musketeers,” while Lauren Culver is the rascally Ned Poins in “Henry IV, Part 1” — a play that also features Samantha Potak as Douglas, a nobleman feared in battle. Last season, a production of “Richard II” had women in three key male roles — including Amy Hutchins as the young man who would become King Henry IV.
“In 2020, we are rightly concerned about diversity and gender equity,” Helsinger said. “Many theater companies around the world are trying to address that.”
Like any change, the evolving practice is not without challenges. Actors have to make adjustments. So do audience members who could be confused, or even offended. And then there’s the problem with pronouns. Do you change a script’s “he” and “him” to “she” and “her”? “I don’t think that’s an issue we’ve solved yet,” said Helsinger, who considers the question on a case-by-case basis. But it’s an issue
that’s going to continue to arise.
“I think if you’re coming to professional theater in America, you’re going to see more and more of it,” Helsinger said. “Something about the #metoo movement has made regional theaters think we have to step it up. Not that we weren’t doing it before, but we’ve gotten even more aggressive.”
There are other ways to increase the visibility of women onstage — such as by choosing plays in which female characters outnumber the males, as in Orlando Shakes’ “Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley.”
Orlando’s Mad Cow Theatre cast a production of “1776,” a musical about the founding fathers, with all women. The downtown theater also recently presented “Men in Boats,” a show in which playwright Jaclyn Backhaus specifies all the male characters are played by females.
But Shakespeare presents a particularly thorny problem: There aren’t a lot of great roles for women in his oeuvre, written in the late 16th and early 17th century.
“At the time, it was illegal to have women on the stage,” said Helsinger, pointing out young men in drag impersonated females. “If I were Shakespeare, would I write a ton of female roles if I’m not allowed to put actual women on the stage?”
Female actors have been turning the tables on history for centuries. Elizabeth Powell was reportedly the first woman to play Hamlet, back in 1796. The celebrated 19th-century actress Sarah Bernhardt also played the Danish prince. Last year, Glenda Jackson earned a Tony nomination for starring as King Lear on Broadway.
Hering, who played the Duke of York in Orlando Shakes’ “Richard II” last season, knows first-hand the appeal of putting on breeches for a Shakespeare play.
“The meaty speeches almost always go to male actors,” Hering said. “It was great to do some of those speeches not written for my gender. That was a treat.”
Actor Benjamin Bonenfant recalls a production of “Richard II” at Hudson Valley Shakespeare in New York in which the title role was played by a woman.
“It made people lean in a little more, maybe, made them think a little differently,” he said. At the Shakes, as Prince Hal, he plays opposite Lauren Culver, as rascally Ned Poins.
Their male-female friendship is relatable to a modern audience, the actors said. And for Culver, acting is acting, no matter the gender of the role.
“You approach it the same way,” Culver said. “What does that person want?”
Helsinger points to his daughter as someone inspired to see women in nontraditional roles of power onstage.
Culver has seen the effect that imagery can have while sword fighting in “Henry IV, Part 1.”
“It was wonderful to watch this whole row of young girls who caught my eye in the battle scene,” she said. “They were pointing at me and smiling. That’s why it matters.”
Still, sometimes theatergoers struggle with the changing dynamic.
Helsinger apologized to an audience member who was upset to see Hering portraying a Catholic cardinal in “The Three Musketeers.”
“Sometimes nobody has a problem,” Helsinger said. “Sometimes I get two or three messages saying they were thrown off or asking why.”
The context of a play is important, all agreed.
So while women aren’t cardinals, in terms of the comedy-adventure that is “The Three Musketeers,” “Is historical accuracy really the driving force of that show?” asks Bonenfant rhetorically.
Hering can see both sides.
“I think it can take an audience member out of the play for a moment or two,” she said. “You have to know you’re throwing history under the bus — and I mean that in the best possible way.”
Helsinger points out the Central Florida’s population — and his potential audience — is 52% female.
“Either we start doing these plays in different ways, or gender inequality goes on,” he said.
He thinks theatergoers are smart enough to understand, as shown by the acceptance of color-blind casting, the idea of choosing actors without consideration of their ethnicity.
“One of the things we do when we come to the theater is suspend disbelief,” Helsinger said. “It’s not real. We’re not really in the fields of France, and these swords are not really sharp.”
He thinks the same leap of imagination applies to the actors.
“We want to see ourselves reflected onstage,” he said. “The world is changing.”
“It was wonderful to watch this whole row of young girls who caught my eye in the battle scene. They were pointing at me and smiling. That’s why it matters.” Lauren Culver, on playing Ned Poins in “Henry IV, Part 1”
“Henry IV, Part 1” and “The Three Musketeers” continue at Orlando Shakes through March 22.