list.co.uk/festival Theatre Role Reversals | FESTIVAL FEATURES
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It’s never been a better time to play with gender roles in theatre. Gareth K Vile talks to a handful of female performers taking on theatre’s historically male-dominated roles
T he question of gender identity is a hot theme at this year’s Fringe. Critics have been chasing each other to list shows that explore transgender experience, often without recognising that each work has a distinctive set of interests that don’t overlap. The abrupt discovery by critics of trans activism belies the work that has been done over the years, both in feminist and drag performance, to blur the lines between male and female.
The Smooth Faced Gentlemen continue in this tradition of causing gender trouble. An all-female company, they fearlessly adapt Shakespeare to contemporary society – their Othello at Underbelly effortlessly updates the action to the 1950s and rel ects on cold war paranoia – and allow women to take on those famous characters. ‘The immediate i rst step is to search for a starting point to approach the script,’ says director Yaz Al-Shaater. ‘For us, gender is always a theme in our work. But the “concept” of each show comes from spending weeks analysing the text, and researching the play and its history.’ And so, their Titus Andonicus (i rst performed in 2013 but at the Pleasance this month) takes a middle path between visceral brutality and a more abstract violence. ‘The audience will see the blood and gore replaced with paintbrushes and bright red paint,’ adds Al-Shaater, ‘and the play [is] treated with the sense of humour that should be reserved for the darkest acts of humanity.’
Their Othello, meanwhile, does more than provide the powerful image of a black female protagonist. ‘Visual, interactive, non-verbal, and physical theatre elements all pervade our work,
20–31 Aug 2015 THE LIST FESTIVAL 21