The Strand seems be leading the way for Women’s empowerment right now with 3 strong female shows occupying it’s theatres.
We have Emilia at the Vauderville, imagining a story of Shakespeare’s dark lady and giving a voice to so many women who weren’t able to tell their stories. With an all female cast and creative team and powerful battle cry in the closing monologue it’s certainly flying the flag.
It’s joined up the road by ‘Waitress’, another all female creative team telling the story of a woman trying to find the strength to decide her own fate. With 3 fabulous women leading it is delighting the Adelphi’s audiences. Then over the road there is the Dolly Parton musical ‘9 to 5’ also with 3 wonderful female leads. An in your face show about workplace inequality with a powerful message about building each other up rather than tearing each other down. And this took over from the female led Dreamgirls.
And it doesn’t stop there. Over at the Noel Coward ‘All About Eve’ recently closed flowing a sold out run led by two outstanding female performers and which had a charity collection after the show for “Women for Women’ – a charity which helps women survivors of war rebuild their lives for by giving information about their rights, providing healthcare and teaching skills. Another example is ‘Come From Away’ with the most prominent character being the first female airline captain who had the first all female crew telling us how she was told not to dream so big and how she smashed through those barriers.
With Mary Poppins opening later this year and of course Disney’s Frozen with it’s two strong female leads opening next Autumn the female voice doesn’t show any sign of resting in the west end and nor should it. Hopefully before we see Frozen we’ll have more female led cast and female led creative teams to celebrate.