1) MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN AND TAKE CHARGE Go into a venue or a meeting and introduce yourself. Tell them who you are and what you are doing there. This is quite easy to forget but will save a lot of time and embarrassment for everyone because someone will inevitably shake hands with a male stage hand that you have employed whilst assuming that they must be the director. If they STILL manage to direct their questions for you to a male colleague, just stare at them and smile until they realise their mistake, or if they need a little helping hand to be reminded, just go over to them again, shake their hand, introduce yourself (again) and ask if you may be able to answer the question better (be aware that you probably may not on account of your genitals!!!) OR have an all female cast and crew and enjoy watching as people all struggle to the point that smoke starts billowing out of their ears and they eventually explode. On this note, you WILL be mistaken for a costume designer, make-up artist, cleaner or a cast member’s tag along girlfriend at least 3 times a month.
2) DOES IT PASS THE BECHDEL TEST? The Bechdel test, asks if a work of fiction features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than a man. (wikipedia, 2015)
This is based on a comic strip by Allison Bechdel [1985] and has been used as a rating for films ever since but I like to think about it in terms of the theatre I make too. Look it up. Think about it. You’ll be horrified how few films pass this and how little we notice, like, REALLY horrified.
3) WHY? There are general themes of questioning that are irrelevant to your art but will be directed towards you as some point whilst talking about your art eg. boyfriends, clothes, children. There are also relevant questions that are just simply offensive, or are edging towards something offensive. The WHY game is responding to everything with why? it works best when asked with a smile, the word ‘interesting’, and with enough open mindedness to let them realise their question was framed badly and could have been offensive, or for them to realise their own stupidity. Example: Why isn’t there a man in your show? That’s an interesting question, why do you think there should be a man in my show? Well she’s talking about politics. Interesting observation! She is, but why do you think there should be a man in my show? Well women shouldn’t talk about politics Ok, well that’s an interesting perspective, why shouldn’t women talk about politics? etc.