Every year, The Stage “reveals who we believe are the 100 most influential people working in theatre and the performing arts.”
Depending on your opinion of The Stage, and on a lot of different factors, you may be sceptical of the list’s validity / relevance to the theatrical landscape, but as a few people were already flagging the gender imbalance in this year’s list, I thought it would be helpful to provide a structured breakdown.
Top 5:
Women: 2
Men: 6
Top 10:
Women: 4
Men: 14
Top 20:
Women: 10
Men: 22
Top 40:
Women: 15
Men: 45
Top 60:
Women: 22
Men: 61
Top 80:
Women: 28
Men: 78
All 100:
Women: 32
Men: 96
Notes:
– The list in total is comprised of 25% women to 75% men – there were nine cases of female/male partnerships or women being mentioned in conjunction with a male colleague or counterpart, and two of female/female working partnerships.
– BAME entrants do not make an appearance on the list until after the top 20. Not having met the vast majority of people on the list, I am uncomfortable in speculating on people’s ethnic heritage through the medium of the internet, but am fairly confident in saying that there are fewer than 10 BAME professionals on this list; yielding a ratio I have shown below.
– The Stage’s logo for the list features three men and three women, two of whom are from BAME backgrounds. I think you can agree this is not proportionately reflective of the data.
– Regardless of how and why this list is put together, these figures are undeniably reflective of larger issues within theatre and the performing arts; something we’re all responsible for.
* I’ve double checked my numbers but please let me know if I’ve gotten anything wrong.
Mary Halton 
