Interview: A Playground Where Women Are Heard

Naomi Sorkin talks about Women’s Voices: A Celebration

Throughout March this year, the Playground Theatre will be hosting Women’s Voices: A Celebration. Now in its second year, this festival draws together remarkable women from across many fields including theatre and the Arts, politics and media, to share stories and performances. We were delighted to catch up with co-producer Naomi Sorkin and find out more about what we can expect to see.

Hi Naomi. Thanks very much for talking to us today. This is the second year of Women’s Voices. Can you tell us a little about how it was initially established?

About a year and a half ago, a colleague at the theatre asked casually “Why don’t you create something around International Women’s Day?” I thought it was a great idea but what should it be? There have been individual events around the day for years, but what can we do as a theatre that would be different? I wanted to create something to represent women across all of the Arts – not just theatre, but music, film, dance, poetry, spoken word – and beyond. Thus began what amounts to a huge amount of work. Last year we had 18 different events across three weeks. This year we have expanded to 23 events over three weeks, including comedy for the first time, with contributors ranging from their 20’s to their 80’s.

What is your role in the festival and who are you working with?

I am the creative producer and curator of the event. This year, I’m very pleased to have three wonderful co-curator/associate producers – Nicole Ansari-Cox, Myriam Cyr, and Kamini Banga – who have each brought both varied and super interesting projects to the table.

Director Myriam Cyr’s production Spanish Oranges is currently receiving a world premiere at The Playground Theatre after being introduced at Women’s Voices last year – a shining example of how this festival has already birthed a new play. At this year’s festival, Myriam is directing two plays: Madame Mozart – a play with music which recently had its premiere in Boston, about the completion of the famous Requiem after her husband’s death; and Sessions by Patrice Chaplin about Edvard Munch coming back to life for therapy.

Kamini Banga, successful businesswoman and philanthropist, chairs (with Myriam) Disruptors, a panel of five powerful women from business and politics discussing seminal moments in their lives.

Nicole Ansari-Cox is involved in a number of Women’s Voices projects – including her conceived multi-media piece She/Her and starring in Madame Mozart, Sessions, and Seven Seconds of Eternity about Heddy Lamar the film star who was also a scientific genius.

What is it that makes this festival unique?

I believe the uniqueness comes from the sheer breadth of the offerings across music, dance, film, theatre, media and comedy (as well as a brand new music theatre piece by the wonderful Janie Dee!). It makes for a fascinating and diverse line-up.

The festival takes us from a talk between Motherland and Amandaland creator Helen Serafinowicz and writer/director Lisa Forrell discussing the art of TV comedy writing; to media heavyweight, journalist Jane Corbin discussing a career covering the war zones over the last 30 years; and veteran actor Janet Suzman discussing Cleopatra, a role she redefined for the contemporary stage. And we mustn’t forget our two musical offerings: the marvellous Trio Goya playing work works of 19th and early 20th century woman composers Clara Schuman, Hélène Liebmann, and Camille Chaminade; and Daughters of Persia created by Margaret Fingerhut (pianist) and composer Farhad Poupei with narration written by William Nicholson, celebrating one of the great cultures of the world through the eyes of its women.

Can you talk a bit about the plays on offer and the themes they address?

There are no universal themes although the plays by our two youngest contributors, Honeytrap and Who’d Love Lucy? both deal both with revenge in the first instance and an inability to make meaningful connection leading to a reckoning.

Other plays include Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s The Spy Princess, about Indian princess Noor Inayat Khan, a special agent in WW2 posthumously awarded the George Cross; Janet Dunlin Jones’ The Elizabeths, starring Caroline Goodall and Rachel Pickup, imagining a meeting across time between Elizabeth I and Elizabeth II; and Kristen Winters’ Ghislaine, a timely work-in-progress exploring the notorious scandal.

We can also expect poetry, debates, film and more, so what are some of the highlights there this year?

This year, Women’s Voices will showcase five short films, including an animation from award-winning Scottish animator Victoria Watson; Jackie Oudney’s Oscar short-listed Vagabond Shoes, starring Ian Glen; and Roman Fever, based on an Edith Wharton short story – a film I initiated and appear in opposite Kathryn Worth, produced by the late Barbara Stone. In the Night stars Women’s Voices co-producer Nicole Ansari Cox and is directed by Shireen Khaled, and we share a special screening of Why Do Fools Fall in Love, the breakout film of Halle Berry, written by The Playground Theatre associate artist Tina Andrews, the first African-American woman to win the Striker’s Guild of America Award. Audiences can also enjoy the award-winning documentary Gypsy Caravan by Jasmine Dell.

The Poetry on the Couch event promises to be fascinating, with prominent psychologist Kathleen Saxton analysing poets Emily Dickinson (played by Madeleine Potter) and Mary Shelley (played by Eva Rae Thompson) with musical accompaniment by pianist John Churchwell.

Comedy will also feature prominently, with She’s Got Balls – sketches by Emily Corcoran as well as our exclusive conversation with Comedy Collaborators Helen Serafinowicz and Lisa Forrell and an Evening of Women Stand-Ups, which rounds up the festival on 31 March.

Is the programme only for established artists or will it also be a platform for new work?

The festival is very much about highlighting new work, whilst celebrating emerging and established women. Newcomers such as young writer Ruby Isaacs (Honeytrap) feature alongside high-profile performers such as Janie Dee (with her brand-new piece inspired by the moon) and celebrated actor Janet Suzman among many others.

Which brings us to the Playground Theatre, one of London’s newest and most innovative Off-West End venues, which is the focus of the events. What is it about their ethos that chimes with that of Women’s Voices?

The Playground Theatre began life as The Playground Studio, a development space devoted entirely to incubation, experimentation, and the creation of new work. It was actually the great ballerina Lynn Seymour – whose life and impact we celebrate in a tribute launching the festival on 8 March – who first suggested the name, inspired by its mission.

It became a theatre in late 2017 when founder and artistic director Peter Tate realised that transforming it into a theatre would allow the entire journey – from incubation to performance – to happen under one roof andalthough several works went on to other venues, there was really interesting work that never found another life.

So it is a perfect venue in which to share all this exciting new work and to celebrate both emerging and established female artists.

Thanks very much to Naomi for telling us about this exciting, eclectic event.

Women’s Voices: A Celebration runs at the Playground Theatre from Sunday 8 to Tuesday 31 March.