The Stage

Lyndsey Marshal joins fight for older women’s roles

Published Thursday 11 November 2010 at 14:26 by Matthew Hemley

Equal roles

Actress Lyndsey Marshal has joined the growing number of performers calling for more roles to be provided for older actresses working in television and theatre.

Marshal, who featured in the BBC/HBO television drama Rome and whose theatre credits include last year’s Three Days of Rain at the Apollo Theatre in London’s West End, said commissioners and writers should do more to increase the opportunities for women working in the performing arts.

“It would be great if there were more female parts. It can happen that you are over 40 and you don’t exist as a woman. There are definitely fewer parts,” she said.

Marshal, who will soon appear in the BBC’s second series of Garrow’s Law, added: “You look at the screen and it’s predominantly men and hardly any women and it is a problem.”

The actress’ comments come as a petition led by Equity urging broadcasters to give older women more roles continues to gain support - around 9,000 people having signed it to date. Those who have supported it include the playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker and performers Maxine Peake and Honor Blackman.

Meanwhile, Marshal has also expressed her concern about the impact that funding cuts to the arts will have on performers following last month’s Comprehensive Spending Review.

She said it was a “terrifying time to be in the arts”, adding that audiences needed “light relief and entertainment”.

The actress warned that the UK could lose talent because of cuts, with the country’s actors looking to America instead for work.