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One-woman play makes visible the female faces of public spending cuts One-woman play makes visible the female faces of public spending cuts
(about 1 hour later)
“This is the bit of the job I love. Loved. The human-contact bit, the breaking-the-ice bit. The breaking-into-a-smile bit,” says Stella, played by Tanya Moodie, a social worker whose project funding has run out just as she is trying to help a vulnerable young woman, called Joanne.“This is the bit of the job I love. Loved. The human-contact bit, the breaking-the-ice bit. The breaking-into-a-smile bit,” says Stella, played by Tanya Moodie, a social worker whose project funding has run out just as she is trying to help a vulnerable young woman, called Joanne.
Stella is one of five characters in a five-act play depicting women at the frontline of overstretched public services. There’s also a police officer with a troubled past, an NHS receptionist working nights in A&E for just £9 an hour, the manager of a homeless hostel who’s mopping the rooms because the cleaner is off with stress and agency staff cost too much, and a teacher, haunted by the memory of a vulnerable pupil she wished she’d been able to help, called Joanne (yes, the same one). We never see this young woman, but she draws together each of the separate monologues, written by five different playwrights, and is the name of the play being staged in London by award-winning theatre company, Clean Break.Stella is one of five characters in a five-act play depicting women at the frontline of overstretched public services. There’s also a police officer with a troubled past, an NHS receptionist working nights in A&E for just £9 an hour, the manager of a homeless hostel who’s mopping the rooms because the cleaner is off with stress and agency staff cost too much, and a teacher, haunted by the memory of a vulnerable pupil she wished she’d been able to help, called Joanne (yes, the same one). We never see this young woman, but she draws together each of the separate monologues, written by five different playwrights, and is the name of the play being staged in London by award-winning theatre company, Clean Break.
Related: Joanne review – angry sketches of the invisible woman
It’s been well documented by charities, academics and in non-fiction accounts that women are bearing the brunt of the cuts to public spending, both as employees and as users of services. More women are employed in client-facing roles, which are buckling under the strain of increased workloads, recruitment freezes and lack of resources. And they are losing their jobs as staff are culled, or services close.It’s been well documented by charities, academics and in non-fiction accounts that women are bearing the brunt of the cuts to public spending, both as employees and as users of services. More women are employed in client-facing roles, which are buckling under the strain of increased workloads, recruitment freezes and lack of resources. And they are losing their jobs as staff are culled, or services close.
Women are also disproportionately affected by cuts to benefits and tax credits. The Fawcett Society reported earlier this year that since 2010, 85% of all the cuts to welfare have come from women’s pockets. Stella is a good example of the double whammy hitting thousands of women: not only is she about to become an unemployed public servant, she also cares for her elderly mother who lives with her and depends on a range public services from GP surgeries and district nurses to adult social care.Women are also disproportionately affected by cuts to benefits and tax credits. The Fawcett Society reported earlier this year that since 2010, 85% of all the cuts to welfare have come from women’s pockets. Stella is a good example of the double whammy hitting thousands of women: not only is she about to become an unemployed public servant, she also cares for her elderly mother who lives with her and depends on a range public services from GP surgeries and district nurses to adult social care.
Given this assault on women, it’s fitting that a play about government cuts should be written, directed and acted by women. It was inspired by the theatre company’s own experiences. Clean Break was founded in 1979 by two female prisoners and combines theatre productions with an education programme that works with female offenders and women at risk of offending in custodial and community settings. During 2015, the theatre company found itself offering support services, including emergency housing clinics and food bank vouchers to the women attending its theatre education programme in order to compensate for the pressure on almost all the essential services they use, says Róisín McBrinn, Clean Break’s head of artistic programme and director of Joanne.Given this assault on women, it’s fitting that a play about government cuts should be written, directed and acted by women. It was inspired by the theatre company’s own experiences. Clean Break was founded in 1979 by two female prisoners and combines theatre productions with an education programme that works with female offenders and women at risk of offending in custodial and community settings. During 2015, the theatre company found itself offering support services, including emergency housing clinics and food bank vouchers to the women attending its theatre education programme in order to compensate for the pressure on almost all the essential services they use, says Róisín McBrinn, Clean Break’s head of artistic programme and director of Joanne.
“In addition, the backdrop to these pressures was reduced access to legal aid and a probation service undergoing privatisation,” she adds. McBrinn says she began to see the female employees as “the ‘faces’ of our public services” and as the “frontline of a very brittle army, kept fighting through good will and human endurance”. So she wanted to create a piece of theatre that looked at “the fallout of this unsustainable system – to look at the pressure on the frontline and where it actually implodes”.“In addition, the backdrop to these pressures was reduced access to legal aid and a probation service undergoing privatisation,” she adds. McBrinn says she began to see the female employees as “the ‘faces’ of our public services” and as the “frontline of a very brittle army, kept fighting through good will and human endurance”. So she wanted to create a piece of theatre that looked at “the fallout of this unsustainable system – to look at the pressure on the frontline and where it actually implodes”.
Joanne is the invisible fallout, who shares her story with the women that Clean Break works with day in, day out. Could she have been helped and diverted away from prison and her ultimate fate if she had received the right intervention from any of the public services she’d come into contact with?Joanne is the invisible fallout, who shares her story with the women that Clean Break works with day in, day out. Could she have been helped and diverted away from prison and her ultimate fate if she had received the right intervention from any of the public services she’d come into contact with?
Tanya Moodie’s engaging performance as the five diverse and very human faces of our public services touches us in a way that news stories and reportage can’t.Tanya Moodie’s engaging performance as the five diverse and very human faces of our public services touches us in a way that news stories and reportage can’t.
Joanne is at the Soho Theatre in London until 31 October. cleanbreak.org.ukJoanne is at the Soho Theatre in London until 31 October. cleanbreak.org.uk