24. The Cup | Roundtable on Shakespeare & Gender

Welcome back to the 24th episode of The Cup which is our a weekly (give or take, TBD, these are unprecedented times) performing arts talk show presented by Cup of Hemlock Theatre. The theatres may be closed, but art finds a way to survive! For the time being on this podcast we are rereleasing our past reviews, interviews, roundtables, and duet reviews in remastered audio only versions so you can take your CoH content on the go! For our 24th episode we have the inaugural episode of “The Cup: Roundtable”. The primary goal of these episodes will be to take a deep dive into a broad thematic topic of pressing relevance to the today’s theatre community, be they practitioners, scholars, or spectators. By assembling panelists with diverse perspectives and expertise on the chosen topic, we hope to spark fruitful dialogues, revelatory insights, and (occasionally) intense debates. In this episode hosted by Jillian Robinson we discussed the subject of Shakespeare and Gender. With an increasing number of recent Shakespeare productions featuring female identifying performers taking on male lead characters – such as Lear, Prospero, and Caesar – this panel seeks to examine how contemporary theatre-makers can best negotiate the nuances and complexities of gender in casting today. As societal conceptions of gender continue to be interrogated and reconceived, how can theatre effectively evolve with the times? How can the well-trodden Shakespearean canon be a site for these developments, adaptations, and interventions? Cup of Hemlock Theatre is a Toronto-based performing arts collective dedicated to staging works that examine the moral quandaries of the human experience. With an inquisitive compass, we aim to provide audiences the space to retrace their personal stories and navigate their individual ideologies. Follow us on Instagram/Facebook/Twitter: cohtheatre Follow our panelists: Susan A. Lock – Email: [email protected] // Facebook: The Isolationists   Mackenzie Horner (Before the Downbeat: A Musical Podcast) – Instagram/Facebook: BeforetheDownbeat    Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3aYbBeN Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3sAbjAu  Emerjade Simms – Instagram: em.er.jade // Twitter: emerbabe   Graeme McClelland – Instagram: instagraeme999 // Email: [email protected]   Jillian Robinson – Instagram: jillian.robinson96