Borrowing From the Bard

Ruler of the Hive (2018) was written for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra’s (TSO) seventieth anniversary. They programmed their concerts for the year to thematically encompass as many Shakespearean works as possible (around twenty-three works in total). For my part I decided my piece would use exclusively female Shakespearean monologues. I understood straight away that by isolating these women, in their moments in the spotlight, and thrusting them into focus I was making a statement about gender imbalance. This made me a little uncomfortable, having always shied away from feminist questions. However, it was another woman artist who affirmed the direction I was taking: when we met up to discuss the project, narrator Pamela Rabe’s illuminating but thoughtful suggestions guided me back to a place where I felt safe confronting the feminist stage I had built for myself, convinced that Shakespeare himself wanted these issues of equality brought into focus. The overall concept, then, was to bring together five of Shakespeare’s leading “ladies” in an orchestral setting and to give them a voice (via my voice) which reflects the complicated array of attitudes and implications their literary existence collectively embodies.