Book Review: 50 Women In Theatre – Naomi Paxton, Susan Croft, Gabrielle Brooks, Cheryl Robson

50 WOMEN IN THEATRE – Naomi Paxton, Susan Croft, Gabrielle Brooks, Cheryl Robson (SUPERNOVA BOOKS and AURORA METRO – ISBN 978-1-913641-05-4)

Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Since 1660 when actresses first began performing on the English stage, women have forged bright careers in theatre, while men called the shots. Four hundred years of women playwrights, from Aphra Behn to Caryl Churchill, yet plays by women make up less than a quarter of staged productions in the UK, leading to a lack of central roles for women. At a time when many theatres have closed their doors and others are looking to reopen, will they choose to move with the times or fall back on commercial revivals?

The above describes the book to a tee – we are looking at the lives of 50 women that have been of some influence in theatre through the years. Twenty-four of the women are written as an overview by the authors, these are under the chapter title of ‘Pioneers and Legends’ – and so they are. We have the likes of Joan Littlewood, Gillian Lynne, Thelma Holt, Judi Dench, Glenda Jackson, Caryl Churchill, Nica Burns, Sonia Friedman, etc. Then under the title of ‘Women in Theatre in Their Own Words’ we have 26 more women like Moira Buffini, Denise Gough, Jude Kelly, Katie Mitchell, Emma Rice, Michelle Terry, etc.

The book also contains chapters entitled ‘Early Stage Pioneers’, ‘Women in Theatre Post War To Today’, ‘Towards a More Inclusive Theatre’ – these are written by Naomi Paxton, Susan Croft and Gabrielle Brooks respectively.

This is a wonderful read and at 256 pages it doesn’t seem too long. I dipped in and out of it. The individual chapters on the women are short, this makes the dipping easy and, in a way, quite exciting, as you don’t know who you are going to be reading about until you open the book. But that’s only me – I suppose most people will start at the beginning and end on page 253 (last three pages are index). The edition I was sent is hardback and costs £24.99 so, it isn’t cheap but it is worth every penny!

Nick Wakeham