Who needs a fellow to play Othello?
From Maxine Peake’s Hamlet to Glenda Jackson’s Lear, the final proof that women DO run the show
IT’S a phenomenon that has been grabbing headlines around the world as a string of women – including Britain’s own Theresa May – crash though the glass ceiling and take over positions of political power that were once the preserve of men.
But it is not just in the corridors of power where such traditional dominance is being overturned. In the world of theatre, female stars are taking male roles like never before.
Even some of Shakespeare’s greatest male characters are to be played by women in London this autumn. Glenda Jackson, no stranger to politics as an ex-Labour MP, is returning to the stage after a near 30-year absence to play King Lear at the Old Vic. And Dame Harriet Walter, recently seen as Lady Shackleton in Downton Abbey, will star as Prospero in The Tempest at the Donmar Warehouse – part of a season that also includes all-female versions of Henry IV and Julius Caesar.
These are the latest example in a trend that has recently seen Shameless star Maxine Peake play Hamlet at Manchester’s Royal Exchange; Michelle Terry play Henry V at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre; and, outside of Shakespeare, Kathryn Hunter play Cyrano de Bergerac at the Southwark Playhouse.
The trend has direct echoes with the changing political landscape, according to Tom Morris, artistic director of Bristol Old Vic.
He said: ‘The notion that women can’t be powerful is now so absurd to be completely dismissible and a lot of these plays are about power. So of course from that point of view, we are ready to see what female artists can bring to these roles.’
Shakespearean expert Sir Jonathan Bate said: ‘It’s an increasing trend because there’s a limit to the number of female roles in Shakespeare. So when you have a generation of distinguished stage actors who have played most of those female parts, the obvious thing is for them to do the male parts.’
Dame Harriet agreed, saying that Shakespeare wrote better parts for men. ‘A woman is almost always only included in the plot because she is the daughter, girlfriend, wife or widow of a man. That man is the centre of her world while for the man, the whole wide world is his sphere and his speeches can range across the great political and philosophical questions.’
But feminist Germaine Greer warned that there may be a limited box-office appetite for the rolereversal vogue. ‘If people won’t go to see it, it would be a self-limiting phenomenon,’ she said.
‘The idea women can’t be powerful is absurd’