The Globe's New Artistic Director, Emma Rice, On A Mission To Gender-Balance Shakespeare

Oddly enough, the new artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe readily admits to being no expert on Shakespeare.

"I have tried to sit down with Shakespeare but it doesn't work," Emma Rice tells The Guardian. "I get very sleepy and then suddenly I want to listen to The Archers."

And perhaps the theatre is depending on her sense of discovery to attract new playgoers attending their first Bard offerings.

"He was the greatest poet, writer and storyteller of all time. It is an adventure for me ... I've got the world of Shakespeare to discover and to enjoy."

As reported by BroadwayWorld, Rice has named her inaugural season as the "Wonder Season," with all of the productions including elements of folklore and magic. It will open with her own production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and end with a "renamed and reclaimed" version of CYMBELINE, named IMOGEN after the female role who has far more stage time than the king who Shakespeare made the title character.

In addition to that title's tweaking, Rice plans to present more gender-balanced productions, despite the fact that just 16% of Shakespeare's characters are women.

"There is no reason why Gloucester can't be a woman. If anybody bended gender it was Shakespeare, so I think it just takes a change of mindset."

As joint artistic director of Kneehigh, regarded as one of the UK's most exciting and innovative theatre companies, getting a 50/50 gender balance on stage was a priority, and she plans to extend that priority to her new position.

"As somebody who has got custody of this canon for a while, I think it is quite interesting to say, yes, it is a target. How can we get the female voices through? How can we change the mold?"

She says she plans to be respectful of Shakespeare but not reverent, noting, "These stories have been told many, many times and are going to be told many more times, so I don't feel fearful."

Her mission includes making The Globe "the most accessible and inviting space in London," with parents encouraged to bring children and babies. "I've always felt a bit of an outsider, and theatre is a great savior for those of us who are outsiders. So the more people we bring in from the cold, the better."

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