(Andrew Upton’s article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, 7/24.)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a male writer, when creating female characters, will tend to idealise, stereotype and/or objectify them. Consequently, the canon, a dubious construct at the outset, is composed almost entirely of (dead white) male perspectives, effectively devoid of a feminine world view.

It is a locker room, a private club, a mess hall. The worth of a woman in the narrative is valued against the degree, satisfactory or otherwise, to which she conforms to and confirms the male world order. So it is that the stories we tell each other shape and define our identities and the way we interact with the world.

Stage Voices Publishing for archived posts and sign up for free e-mail updates: http 2015:// www.stagevoices.com/ . If you would like to contribute a review, monologue, or other work related to theatre, please write to Bob Shuman at Bobjshuman@gmail.com.