Off Book

Exploring the relationship between theatre and practitioners from marginalised genders

[Off Book @offbookorg]

🧵 About OFF BOOK

[D O G M O U T H @DogmouthTheatre]

📢THE RUMOURS ARE TRUE, WE'RE CASTING📢

Seeking 4 actors who assist us in an R&D period (x2 days) for LITTLE SISTER, a dark, compelling folk horror set in Rosses Point, Co. Sligo

More details in the thread below - we are particularly interested in hearing from Irish creatives☘️

[Off Book @offbookorg]

I’m sat. Front of house are asking me to leave because the show isn’t on until next year but I’m simply too sat.

[National Theatre @NationalTheatre]

Inter Alia in the Lyttelton / 2025

From the team behind #PrimaFacie, Rosamund Pike (Saltburn) leads the cast as an eminent High Court Judge forced to reckon her professional life and role as wife, mother, friend and feminist in Suzie Miller’s new play, directed by Justin Martin.

[Off Book @offbookorg]

You have to be the best of us to maintain your own integrity when the consequences are this big

Hope the industry picks Stef up and gives her the work she deserves

[The Stage @TheStage]

Exclusive: Director Stef O’Driscoll has spoken out for the first time about her cancelled production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Royal Exchange and the precise reasons it was pulled.

Read it here 👉https://t.co/z1v4K6xxki

[Off Book @offbookorg]

Found a show where there were genuinely more men called John than women/nb creatives 🤠

[Off Book @offbookorg]

Just gathered stats for a show on in the West End this year, where every single creative is a man…

Apart from the associates, who are all women

This is from last years stat summary:

[The Stage @TheStage]

Romeo and Juliet star Francesca Amewudah-Rivers has called for industry-wide action to protect black and brown actors from racist abuse, revealing she got death threats while working on the West End production.

Read the full story here: https://t.co/pf9gaNu6Xr

[Off Book @offbookorg]

Just gathered stats for a show on in the West End this year, where every single creative is a man…

Apart from the associates, who are all women

This is from last years stat summary:

[Off Book @offbookorg]

These are just a few of the ideas we bounced around- there’s never a one size fits all

The overarching takeaway was that a sense of community and mutual care was the most important thing 🧡

[Off Book @offbookorg]

5. When discussing stage management, we uncovered that student DSM’s have often felt like assistants to male directors in particular, instead of creatives and workers in their own right

[Off Book @offbookorg]

It became clear that we often found time and energy to encourage conversations about these men’s needs in a tense work environment, but this was rarely reciprocated, further encouraging the pastoral care gap

[Off Book @offbookorg]

4. Theatre workers/students can often hide behind working in a ‘progressive’ industry or educational environment to cover their own wrongdoings or ignorance

This allows for denial of responsibility, and is not dissimilar to the uptick in weaponisation of leftism by predatory men

[Off Book @offbookorg]

The students raising concerns are then neglected because the need for care becomes oriented around protecting men, or the justification/denial of any wrongdoing

Weaponised incompetence, generally in the form of a ‘lack of awareness’ of sexism, is used in these instances

[Off Book @offbookorg]

There were numerous experiences of male colleagues being confused about *why* people were giving pastoral care, despite it not being in their job description

The idea of care in these spaces is currently incredibly gendered - non-male students are taking considerably more weight

[Off Book @offbookorg]

3. Students socialised as women felt more inclined to provide emotional care, despite this often being seen as a weakness in their practice, and a reason to berate them for being over-emotional/over-invested

[Off Book @offbookorg]

2. Across the board we noted that, when accusations of sexism are made, the accused are often more concerned about the label itself than their actions - this has then been weaponised to create a victim narrative

[Off Book @offbookorg]

Responses can become an indicator of the emotional and physical safety of those from marginalised genders, and inform us on how how we protect ourselves and others

[Off Book @offbookorg]

🧵 Today was the first workshop in a series intended to build solidarity and mutual care amongst people from marginalised genders, in often uncomfortable and oppressive drama school spaces

Here’s one person’s very nicely presented notes: