OUT OF LINE is committed to making space for the unknown
Discovering untraditional ways of telling the untraditional story.
——-
Classical texts are heavily weighted towards the male story, that way the theatres didn't have to hire more than two boys to cover the female parts.
We can change the gender of characters, but what about the women characters that were written? - so many women with a story to tell and comparatively too few words to take up the space.
What if we changed the way we tell the story so that we can see them better?
If we upturned our dependence on what was said, and looked more at what was happening in the room, in the physical space, could we see them better? Could actions, actually speak louder than words.
——-
Having lived for 43 years, I am well aware of the amount of stereotypes I have been expected to represent at every different age, as an actor and in my daily life:
A sweet girl
A shy girl
A sex object.
Shy woman
Prude
Wild woman
Mad.
Married.
A mother
A bad mother
A good mother
A struggling mother
Irrelevant.
Done.
It's very easy to feel in your mid 40s, that you’ve done lots of categories, and now you’d rather be just you… but suddenly the world doesn't have a category for you and so therefore - what are you?
It’s the uncategorized female stories - not the stereotypes - that I want to hear, to see, and to be amazed by.
For me and the women coming next.
I can visualise a world where women in their 40’s are celebrated, where girls realise they don't have a time limit that runs in line with the wrinkles on their face.
That they don’t have to step into line, that they are singular and valuable for who they are, and therefore will continue to be throughout their lives, into their 40’s and beyond.
Just as the men are.
‘It's hugely important to address the way women are perceived, in order to change the way they are treated...’’
(Why Do We Still Find Women’s Voices So Scary’ TEDxTalk: Caroline Criado Perez Feminist author, journalist and activist)
———
I’ve been an actor for the last 25 years and I know how much it takes to create a piece of theatre. Literally blood, sweat and tears.
And for the audience to carve out time and money to support our industry and put their faith in us, the storytellers, for an hour or two - especially now - is brave, and brilliant.
For a small and most precious moment in time we are held together in a space and we are all asked to dream. We might be moved, surprised or inspired - we don’t know. It is a space for the unknown and not for the expected.
OOL are not interested in what should be done, but discovering what could be done
in these beautiful, rare spaces that we’ve called theatres. The etymology of this word being variously - a place for sight, and a place for action.
A place to see something happen.
——-
(Marianne Oldham - Founder and Artistic Director of OUT OF LINE)