Ruth McGowan is the new festival director of Dublin Fringe Festival, which takes over Dublin City from Sep 8 – 23, for 16 days and nights. Ruth talks to TN2 about this year’s festival, gender balance in the arts industry and lists some of her director’s picks to help whet your appetite for the biggest month in culture, this September:
Do you consider Dublin theatre industry to be an equal one? Is it more/less equal than other cities?
No, because the world we live in still operates under hegemonies of all kinds. The playing field in most industries, including theatre, is not level. I am very glad to be working in a time of healthy revolution and progress, so things are changing for the better, and quickly. Fringe has equality in its DNA, it’s always been a place where radical women could thrive. However, that doesn’t mean we get to rest on our inclusive laurels. At Dublin Fringe Festival, when we talk about gender, we are always talking beyond the binary and thinking about intersectionality. True equality means that we bring everyone with us. We champion voices that defy the mainstream and work hard to make sure the right person has the microphone when it’s time to speak up.
Which women are you looking forward to in this year’s Fringe Fest?
This year is a hot one – we have radical revisionist history from Peaches, the Glitterhole daddies putting the party in to politics and Pom Boyd performing sacred punk rituals in the Peacock. I am very proud to be working with our neighbours, Project Arts Centre to present the Irish premiere of Cock Cock.. Who’s There? by young Finnish artist Samira Elagoz. I wanted to bring this work to Dublin audiences, because its unmissable. Samira makes work of complexity, tenderness and humour that I hope will offer new perspectives on ongoing national conversations about sexual violence.
Do you intend to embrace female directors and playwrights in Fringe?
Yes, but that’s a given. 50/ 50 gender balance is the minimum, not a cause for applause. Ireland has extraordinary talent pool, it’s a pleasure to watch them work and support their creativity. We will continue to make sure that artists who are women, and artist who are trans and non-binary, are free to experiment and make ambitious artworks at Dublin Fringe Festival. I also want to advocate for their next steps with colleagues at home and abroad, ensuring that the Fringe platform launches them on to the biggest stages in the country and to major opportunities across Europe.
What are the defigurities/differences in being a woman in the theatre industry?
I get asked about my gender a lot. And I get asked about where my confidence comes from. Which I know are questions that the men aren’t being asked. I think that for a long time, leadership has looked a certain way because it was done by a certain type of person. Things are changing. Leadership can take many forms, there isn’t just one style or one right way of doing things. I aspire to an industry where lots of people, across the all spectrums of gender, class or background will have the opportunity to assume the privilege of being a leader, as well as manage all the responsibility that comes with it.
Do you think there are any particular difficulties associated with being a woman in theatre as opposed to other artistic industries?
Statistics always show playwriting as one of the most underrepresented categories for women in theatre. There are directors, designers and performers making their mark and building careers, but largely not on work written by women. I believe film has a similar imbalance. I find that interesting, because poetry and fiction have a much more equal representation of female authorship. So it would follow that something about the theatre and film industry in particular is inhospitable to women writers. That problem urgently needs to be addressed, and it has a simple solution: hire women. You can see terrific work by playwrights like Erica Murray, Una McKevitt, Lauren Shannon Jones, Pea Dineen and Annie Keegan in this years Dublin Fringe Festival.
How did studying at Trinity impact you and your career?
Until I did my masters, I didn’t know anyone who worked in the arts full-time and wasn’t a performer. During my time in Trinity, I had a class called Contemporary Irish Theatre in Context which was taught by Chrissie Poulter. Each week a different person would come in to speak to us about their work and I realised there was a thriving industry full of people making stuff happen. That class opened up career pathways that I didn’t know about or hadn’t considered possible until then – including my own as a dramaturg, producer and programmer.
Want to know more? – check out fringefest.com
This article previously featured in our print edition, available now across campus and locations around Dublin.
