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I am a writer and educator in Drama and Theatre Studies. My specialist areas are Shakespeare, particularly with regard to the female characters, dramaturgy and theatre history. Raising a little boy also gives me plenty of cause to reflect on parenting and social justice issues. While my active site is orlandocreature.wordpress.com you can find lots more of my writing archived at Hoyden About Town, under both Anna and my earlier handle, Orlando. Twitter: @orlandocreature

  • Friday Hoyden Quicklink: Beate Sirota Gordon

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    Black and white headshot of Beate Sirota

    I had never heard of Beate Sirota Gordon until I saw this piece on Shakesville saying she died earlier this week. One of those people who make me wonder what I’ve been doing with my time, and why I haven’t… Read More ›

  • Friday Hoyden: Yvonne Brewster

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    Photo portrait of Yvonne Brewster.

    Director Yvonne Brewster founded Britain’s most prominent Black theatre company, Talawa, in 1986, in order to produce work that showcased actors from a diversity of racial backgrounds, who were not getting the work they should have been in the large, subsidised theatres.

  • Friday Hoyden: Hrotsvit von Gandersheim

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    Medieval painting of a nun with three other women with books and sewing (LHS), and with one other woman building a wall (RHS)..

    Hrotsvit, whose name is also recorded as Roswitha, and in other variations, lived in the Abbey of Gandersheim, which is in the region known today as Saxony, in the second half of the tenth century. The dark ages may not have been quite so dark if you were a noble-born, highly educated nun, with a rather quirky sense of humour.

  • Quick Hit: Latest from the Geena Davis Institute

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    Head-and-shoulders photo of Geena Davis, at a podium, at the Gender in the Media Symposium.

    The latest report from the Geena Davis Institute is the very detailed “Gender Roles & Occupations: A Look at Character Attributes and Job-Related Aspirations in Film and Television”. Most people are aware that women and girls are underrepresented as speaking characters in film and television, but you may still be shocked by how much.

  • Friday Hoyden: Sekai Holland

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    The current Zimbabwean Minister for Reconciliation, Healing and Integration has a long history with Australia, going back to her days as a university student. Sekai was here this week to accept the Sydney Peace prize, and give its associated lecture.

  • Now the Dust has Settled

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    Has anyone else been feeling insultingly patronised by the MSM this past week? The embarrassment of completely misreading the wider impact of the Prime Minister’s speech (you know, that one) was such that most high-profile newspaper columnists spent the rest of the week explaining to readers exactly why we were the ones who didn’t get it, not them. They understood better than us because they were thinking about – Context!

  • Quick Hit: About Bloody Time

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    Watch as our Prime Minister lays it all out about who the Opposition Leader is.

  • Indulge me for a moment…

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    Merida from Brave drawing her bow.

    …while I talk about archery.

  • Quick Hit: the Ernies are in

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    Australia’s annual awards for public displays of sexism took place at NSW Parliament House last night. Gold below the fold.

  • Friday Hoyden: Paulina in The Winter’s Tale

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    A black woman crouches to speak to a kneeling white man, both in late Victorian costume..

    Paulina is one of Shakespeare’s lesser known, but most vibrant and admirable mouthy women.