Spotlight On: Damsel Develops, A Female-Focused Festival

Next Monday sees the launch of Damsel Develops, a new theatre mini-festival that aims to celebrate and develop the work of female directors. Eight days will see the performance of eight new projects – all written or conceived by women, and committed to representing the female experience on stage.

After receiving over 150 applications for their open call in September, Damsel has brought together eight emerging female directors to develop their projects for the festival. The festival will be held at the Bunker Theatre 13th – 19th November. The selected directors include Sara Joyce, who directed Milly Thomas‘ Dust at the Edinburgh Fringe, OFFIE-nominated Tania Azevedo and JMK Award Finalist Rafaella Marcus. Alongside staged readings and work in progress showings, the festival will also involve audience feedback sessions and live music.

Previous Damsel project Pint Sized Goes Damsel

Artistic Director Hannah Hauer-King says: “The shift we’ve seen in the industry towards supporting female writers has been fantastic, and we now want to see it opened up into all creative roles. Damsel Develops is committed to empowering emerging female directors and supporting them with resources to develop work. Our hope is that the pieces across the festival will have a future life, and bring success and inspiration to the women involved.”

The full list of directors is as follows: Lucy Atkinson, Tania Azevedo, Melissa Dunne, Kerry Fitzgerald, Sara Joyce, Damsel Artistic Director Hannah Hauer-King,Rafaella Marcus and Justina Kehinde Ogunseitan. Each director will receive guidance from a pool of industry mentors including Maria Aberg, Paulette Randall, Melly Still, and Di Trevis.