The Women's Theatre Group evolved out of Ed Berman 's desire to mount an Almost Free Lunch-time Theatre 'Women's Festival' in 1973. Many women writers, directors, stage managers and performers responded to Berman's idea and took the decision to work via a series of open meetings to which any interested women could come to read and discuss scripts thus avoiding the hierarchical processes regarded as typical of the male-dominated theatre scene. The aim was to allow ideas and productions to develop organically but inevitably the pressure of having a show ready for the deadline meant that the group decided on scripted shows cast in the conventional way.
The Women's Festival programme included the work of established writers Pam Gems and Michelene Wandor, and only one hitherto unproduced writer, Jane Wibberley (Buzz Goodbody was among those who acted in the festival). The relatively 'safe' nature of the eventual season resulted in a split between those involved in the festival into the Women's Company who opted to work in the conventional way, with a number of established theatre professionals in the company, and the Women's Theatre Group opting to devise their work collectively and to produce pieces for the community (teenagers in particular). Their first piece was Fantasia (1974), followed by My Mother Says I Never Should (1975) chronicling teenage sexual experience, Work to Role (1976) about the kind of jobs available to female school leavers and Out On the Costa del Trico (1977) about the equal pay strike by women working at the Trico windscreen wiper factory in London. These early plays were agit-prop and epic in form in common with much alternative theatre of the time. In 1978 the group employed writers for the first time, commissioning Hot Spot from Eileen Fairweather and Melissa Murrary . Encouraging new work by women had always been part of the company's remit and from this point on, commissioning new writing became a cornerstone of their policy.
In 1974 the Women's Theatre Group's aim was to provide roles for women in the theatre as directors, stage managers, and writers and to produce work which reflected the struggle for equal rights. In 1990 the Women's Theatre Group became the Sphinx Theatre Company reflecting their recognition of the need to move "from the barricades to the mainstream" in terms of their presentation of, and meditations on, the role of women in theatre and the world. In 2005 the company celebrated over 30 years of involvement in theatre with Flogging the Jewels: A Celebratory Exhibition at the National Theatre .
From the guide to the Sphinx Theatre Company (formerly The Women's Theatre Group) Archive, 1973-2005, (V&A Museum: Department of Theatre and Performance)
