skirt by Claire Wood
6th – 11th August inclusive, 6:30pm The Royal Scots Club (venue 241)
Tickets £10 https://tickets.edfringe.com/
A brand new darkly funny play exploring gender and politics in modern day Scotland
Becs is a single mum and leader of the opposition party in Scotland. Oldest daughter Ellie is about to go off to university while Neve is still at primary school and struggling.
Becs has been offered the chance to head up the party at Westminster. But her mum has early onset Alzheimers. Her best friend Nina needs a bolt hole. And Becs isn’t quite sure that she could do the job anyway.
Inspired by a Daily Mail front page featuring a photo of Theresa May and Nicola Sturgeon in skirts alongside the headline, “LEGS-IT”, skirt explores whether women are really free to choose in contemporary Scotland.
In today’s Scotland, women make 52% of the population. 35% of MSPs are female. Nicola Sturgeon can take credit for the first ever gender balanced Cabinet¹. But the CEOs of FTSE 100 companies in Scotland are all male². There are currently no female newspaper editors in Scotland and 11 out of 12 political editors are men³. Recent research from Close The Gap suggests that the gender pay gap is either just as pronounced or worse today then it was in 2004⁴.
skirt is the fourth new play from writer / director Claire Wood. Previous productions included a co-production with Scottish band, The Stantons, Cirque de Muerta; a one act play, #likes, examining the invidious influence of social media; and last year’s Edinburgh Fringe outing, beauty, that followed a photographer’s struggle to be true to his art. In a modern day, progressive Scotland, Wood is interested in whether we are really as free as we think are; with skirt she once agains tackles some of the big questions of our age, addressing women’s position at work and how that comes against the perceived responsibility of family.
In skirt, Wood asks whether complete gender equality is really possible in modern day Scotland. Her script has been informed by a series of script workshops, exploring what gender means, its role in and impact on today’s society and harnessing participants’ experiences to shape the story.
She says
“At the start of the year, my Twitter feed was full of #MeToo and #TimesUp, Harvey Weinstein was being hung out to dry and we’re starting to see politicians being held to account for both harassment and gender discrimination. We’ve reached a crunch point for gender relationships, personal and professional.
On the one hand, it’s magic to see high profile celebrations of progress like UK wide public art project, PROCESSIONS⁵ and the success of independent local publisher, 404 Ink⁶. But at the same time, we’re still seeing high profile figures like Lauren Mayberry of Glasgow synth-pop trio Chvrches regularly, aggressively, trolled for her contributions to the debate⁷. Terms like feminazi have found their way into the urban dictionary. Does the high profile success hide the fact that for ordinary people, things are pretty much still the same?”
Wood is delighted to stage this brand new play in the Edinburgh Fringe for EGTG. A local group of some 63 years’ standing, the skirt cast numbers 16 and ranges in age from 9 to 75. Long standing EGTG member, Brian Neill, will be enjoying his 31st Fringe outing. Where youngest cast members Gabi and Ellie, will be enjoying their very first Fringe experience. And finding out more about why women are #notjustaskirt.
skirt
Performances 6th – 11th August inclusive, 6:30pm The Royal Scots Club (venue 241)
Tickets £10 https://tickets.edfringe.com/
EGTG 