Doing What Comes Naturally?: Women and Devising in the UK Today

Abstract

This chapter offers a survey and analysis of women’s representation within, and experiences of, devising practice in the UK today. Recognizing the role played by feminism in the emergence of devising practices in the 1970s, the chapter tests the extent to which the practice continues to offer opportunities for women’s self-representation and authorship. To what extent do contemporary female practitioners continue to regard devising as a methodology through which they can operate more “feminine” models of organization and as an opportunity for self-representation? How do the forms employed by today’s devising women reflect their perspectives on society? Drawing on interviews with a representative sample of female devisers, the chapter considers the intersections between ideology, collaborative methodologies, and dramaturgies from the perspective of the contemporary British female devising practitioner.