Guest Blog: Louisa Davis On King's Head Theatre's Female Writing Season

I am the Senior Producer at the King's Head Theatre. The King's Head is a place that likes a challenge, and likes the unknown, whether that's a revival of a long-lost play, a piece of brand new writing, or giving voice to difficult subject matters in the LGBTQI+ community. I never thought doing a female writing season would fit into this - but unfortunately, it still does.

I could go into a long list of facts and figures, all of which you've probably heard and none of which would really surprise you. The fact is, our industry is heavily dominated by male writing - if female writing does get put on, it's often on smaller stages.

Despite the fact that the majority of theatre audiences are made up of women, this is not mirrored in any role within theatre. Even the women we do see on stage are not in leading roles or are heavily stereotyped.

Quite frankly - enough is enough. I'm sure I'm not the only female fed up of not seeing myself represented on stage or reading comments that allege, even if my gender wrote a play, that "it wouldn't do as well at the box office".

How is it that, in 2018, within an industry that is supposed to be so progressive and tell the stories of the society we live in, half the population are being ignored? And the other half get all the space in which they then decide what our voice is for us?

So what to do? It's all well and good to be unhappy about a situation, get frustrated, get into debates with fellow theatre-makers, but I can do more. I'm in a position where I can give space, make room for these voices.

We can do our bit, in what feels like a long road, to make the landscape of the theatre industry different. Which is why Who Runs the World?, a season of female-led new writing, will be running at the King's Head Theatre in April/May 2018.

And it has been a joy: I have met some amazing female writers, read some beautiful scripts, and it's only made me realise we need to fight even harder. The beauty of it is that, for relatively obvious reasons, female writers understand this disparity in who makes theatre more than anyone, therefore often surround themselves with more female theatre-makers.

So without really trying, we have got ourselves a season that isn't just made up of female writers, but female artistic directors, female creative teams, and more female characters than male on stage.

This is also just the beginning: we are still in the middle of programming the season. I'm trying to find more room every day due to the volume of pieces that have come through, and if they can't fit into this season, then we will find room for them elsewhere.

I want the work we've started here to go beyond this season and make it part of our how our programming should be from now on - a more balanced gender representation, both on and off our stages.

I urge anyone in a similar position to do the same. It's time to get involved and change those statistics. Let's remove the need for "female" seasons.

If you're unsure or don't know how to even begin, talk to each other. Speak to the female producers, directors and writers who are ready and waiting for these questions - all we had to do was ask.

Theatre is a collaborative art form. This is everyone's responsibility, and big change is achievable if everyone collaborates to make it a reality.

Who Runs The World? at King's Head Theatre April 24-May 12. There's a double bill night of Tumble Tuck and NOF*CKSGIVEN, plus a glass of wine and a Q&A with Louisa, on 9 May

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