As I was researching information for my lobby display on Much Ado About Nothing, I decided to focus on women in history and women in theatre. This topic combines two elements I am passionate about and interested in: Gender equality, and history. It is relevant to our show for historical context on a wider range, it also helps frame the plot and characters of our show in specific.
During the research, I felt like I knew much of what to look for. Renaissance women had far less rights than women do currently in our society. This is hardly debatable. Yet, as I dug in, I found a few interesting sources that show that those women may have had more privileges than was originally believed. One source said that women were actually powerful figures in society. This is evidenced of course by the many Queens that cycled through England. Additionally, one scholar suggested that there is evidence that women contributed by being patrons of the arts, and owning businesses.
The theory is hotly debated, but I find it quite interesting because it conflicts with my own idea of what Renaissance women were like. Though we can never be sure just what the society really was, how does this new information transform our perspective of culture, and of history?
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