Multiple reviewers of many genders, races, sexualities, and, perhaps most importantly, taste in art, might someday review one play and discuss the work in a dialectic. This approach might give the lie to the mask of objectivity and reveal that elusive thumbprint, taste, which can be invisibly gendered.
In her speech at the female theatre awards in the States, Sarah Ruhl raised the issue of gender equality in theatre reviewing. But for the NSW theatre sector, TNN is aware that there is more than gender that needs to be brought screaming into the reviewing arena. While major papers are slashing staff and the arts pages are shrinking where can we build the diversity of critique we seek in our reviews? This diversity is deeply sought outside our metropoles , outside the ‘white, male’, outside of our major companies.
I want to thank all of you and celebrate the work of other women in the theatre this year—you’ve inspired me, you’ve lit the way. And I have faith—there will come a time when the public humiliation that every artist must endure will be spread out equally over both genders, and will be leveled equally by both genders. And if that kind of equity does not in itself seem something to celebrate, let’s celebrate how we get there—by invoking our mothers, by refusing to shut up, and by making our own fun. -Sarah Ruhl
Source: Lillys and Mothers | HowlRound
