Can you tell us more about Lace-Evans Productions and what inspired you to start your business and begin the journey as an entrepreneur?
Lace-Evans Productions (LEP) is a female-led theatre company, empowering womxn to tackle the gender disparity in theatre and production. We put women’s voices at the heart of stories, predominately showcasing upcoming female playwrights, composers, designers and directors in comedy. I trained as an actress at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and after graduating I found that a lot of the roles I was being submitted for either didn’t resonate with me as women, or felt misrepresented. After Covid, I started writing my own work, and networking with other women who also felt misrepresented in their line of work. I was accepted to be a part of the SOHO Theatre Labs for my writing, where I later took taking my first play to the world’s largest arts festival, the Edinburgh Fringe. After this, I was inspired to start my own production company to support and celebrate women in theatre. At the end of 2024, I secured a West End transfer to the Other Palace Theatre in London, with a female-led creative team and rave reviews including “The all-female creative team deserves a standing ovation…” (Fringe Minge).
What has been the biggest opportunity and challenge you have faced as a business?
My biggest opportunity to date has been producing for The Other Palace Theatre in London, a Bill Kenwright Theatre. It was also our most challenging and largest production to date, which included hiring and managing a full production company, and expanding the team to include full PR and Marketing coverage. After a sold-out run and 5 star reviews, we found that our biggest challenge later became our greatest success.
What is one of rule of success that you standby in your journey as an entrepreneur?
Don’t be afraid to step into unfamiliar territory. I never started my career as an actress thinking I would write a play or produce for theatre, but I learnt to take risks and take opportunities when they arise. Also, if in doubt, ask for help. I think one of the most important tools as an entrepreneur is using your network, and not being afraid to ask for that help and guidance when you need it.
What advice do you have for female entrepreneurs starting, growing, and scaling a business.
If you have an idea, make sure you do your research and talk to other entrepreneurs who might be in a similar sector. I found it incredibly useful learning from others successes, but more importantly, their mistakes.
What do you most like about the Invest in Women Hub and how important is access to resources and information when building a business.
The Invest in Women Hub is incredibly empowering, and as a young female entrepreneur, it gives me a lot of hope on how the landscape of business will look in the future. It is incredibly important to have the access to the appropriate resources and information when building a business, as there is a lot of misinformation, especially when you first start. When you first begin building your business, the resources can sometimes feel out of reach or unattainable – something which UK Theatre found In 2023 through their ‘A Women in Theatre Survey’, where they found that 84% of women in theatre would like to see funding to support women in theatre. I feel that the Invest in Women’s Hub offers incredible opportunities and support for women, and I’m incredibly excited to be a part of it.
Networking is a hugely important tool when it comes to building a business, how do you approach building a network and connections?
Start with the people you know, and reach out to people in the same sector. Don’t be afraid to talk to people that seem quite high up the ladder. Also, it’s worth researching networks that are available, and work out ways to be a part of them – whether it’s an online group or in-person. The more I’ve researched into people’s roots and where they came from, the more you appreciate how many networks are available out there, and what can sometimes starts as being a handful of names, can quickly snowball into a cluster of groups you have a connection with.
ACE research shows the gender pay gap in the arts had increased from 2.2% in 2022 to 4.7 in 2023.’ How important is supporting female voices in theatre and production and putting women at the heart of stories.
Supporting women in theatre is critical. For years women’s voices have been told through a male perspective, where more often than not women have been misrepresented. I think it’s also important that we challenge misconceptions of women in theatre, especially women in comedy, where in 2012 the BBC published an article entitled “Men are funnier than women”, where a study claimed “researchers found that, external 63% of men were funnier than the average woman”. It’s also vital that we offer women platforms and opportunities within communities and networks that uplift and celebrate women, rather than putting barriers up in areas that are still predominantly dominated by men.
It’s also worth noting, this is very much a political topic, which needs to be regularly addressed across all parties, to ensure that women are paid the equivalent that a man would be paid. Information about the gender pay gap should be accessible and visible, and communicated to all stake holders, including employers/recruiters, to uphold the legislation in place. There also needs to be a greater education of the legislation that is currently in place to increase the awareness of the gender pay gap, particularly through the theatrical unions like Equity.
What’s next for Lace-Evans Productions?
We are currently in the very exciting process of securing our venue for Edinburgh Fringe 2025. Alongside this, we are looking to take our production on a UK tour in Autumn 2025.