Kate Mosse inspired by Stage campaign to write play for older women

In the news

16 June 2009 18:00

Labyrinth author Kate Mosse has revealed she was inspired to write her debut play, which focuses on a group of women over 50, after reading about The Stage’s ongoing campaign to highlight the lack of opportunities for older female performers. By Matthew Hemley.

Mosse, who is also behind the novel Sepulchre, is one of six authors who have written for the theatre for the first time as part of a new television series for Sky Arts, called Theatre Live!, in which live performances of theatre shows will be broadcast on the satellite channel.

Speaking to The Stage, the best-selling author explained she had decided to write a play for a cast of older women, after reading coverage in this newspaper about the shortage of roles on offer to actresses in the advanced stages of their career.

“I have noticed a lot of pieces in the paper about people saying older women don’t get cast, and then lots of people coming back saying, ‘We really would if people were writing stuff for older women that isn’t just somebody’s granny or whatever’,” she said. “I realised when I came to thinking about the play that it is a really good point. You can’t cast older women if people are not writing for them. So I decided to deliberately write for women in their late fifties.”

She added: “I thought this is my chance to write a piece actively for older women, who are not there as somebody’s grandmother or because they have Alzheimer’s. They are just women who are older.”

Of the six plays that are being penned for Theatre Live!, three - including Mosse’s - feature all-female casts, while 14 of the 20 characters that have been created for the six plays are women, with a number of roles specifically for older actresses.

The news comes at a time when more and more industry figures, including actor Ian McKellen and playwright Pam Gems, have been calling for the arts to make better use of older female performers, and on writers to better represent women in the roles they create.

Although full casting for the season has not been finalised, Shirley Valentine actress Pauline Collins and Sheila Reid, currently playing Madge in Benidorm, are set to take part.

Theatre Live! artistic director Sandi Toksvig told The Stage: “I am particularly delighted there has been some wonderful parts written for mature actresses, of whom we have the most wonderful stock of talent. I think you underestimate the audience if you think they don’t want to see them on their television screens.”

As well as Mosse’s play, Morag Joss has written a two-hander called Famous Last, which will star Collins alongside Laura Haddock, while Jackie Kay has penned Mind Away, which features three female roles. It will star Reid as a women suffering from dementia, with Royal Shakespeare Company actress Siobhan Redmond as her daughter.

Source: The Stage

Written by Matthew Hemley

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