Finding Out the Woman鈥檚 Part: A Praxis-Based Examination of Genre and Feminism in Genderbent, All-Women Shakespeare
In the early modern English theatre, women weren't allowed to act professionally, so female roles were played by boys or young men. Shakespeare's company only employed three or four boy actors at a time, so he could only include a few female characters in each of his plays. As a result, only 16% of his characters are women, which has become an employment equity issue now that actresses make up roughly half of the performance industry. In recent decades, scholars and practitioners have also raised concerns about the quality of women鈥檚 androcentric, marginalized characterizations in Shakespeare鈥檚 plays. In response to these ongoing issues, the purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between genre and feminist readings in genderbent all-women Shakespeare (productions where all performers are women, playing their characters as women, with pronouns in the script changed as necessary). You can find the link to apply to participate as a performer here, and an audience member here.
This study has received ethical approval from the 皇冠体育鈥檚 University General Research Ethics Board. This study is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Further Questions? Please email 22eap1@queensu.ca
