Most theatre groups have more female than male actors and are constantly looking for plays that offer good parts for women. I was intrigued therefore that Progress Youth Theatre have chosen to produce Mojo - a play with six males and no females at all.
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| photo by Richard Brown |
I asked youth theatre leader and director Ben Sandiford about the choice of play. He said that it is something he has wanted to stage for twenty years but had always hesitated because of the lack of female roles. This year because of the short gap between Noises Off and the Youth Theatre production they needed to find a play that could use the two level stage already constructed. Mojo needs an upstairs and downstairs area and so it seemed time was finally right.
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| photo by Richard Brown |
Sometimes the Youth Theatre increase the number of roles for girls by changing the sex of a character, for example they have performed female versions of Julius Caesar and Lord of the Flies and even had a female count Dracula. Ben was clear that this was not an option with Mojo as the relationships between the characters and their masculinity is an important element of the play.
The gender balance has been restored off-stage as long-term Youth Theatre member Poppy Price has taken on the role of assistant director. Poppy said that she did question the choice of an all male play but feels that there doesn't necessarily need to be a balance in each production as long as there are good opportunities for both sexes across the season. The most recent production, Roses of Eyam had many more girls than boys in it.
The cast are just pleased that for once they can take over the larger dressing room normally used by the girls!
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Progress Youth Theatre, Mojo by Jez Butterworth, 7.45 –
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