Dame Kristin Scott Thomas says male theatre critics fail to grasp plays about women after they poorly reviewed her West End show Lyonesse

Dame Kristin Scott Thomas hit out at male theatre critics for 'failing for understand plays written by and about women' while collecting an award this week.

The actress, 65, spoke about poorly-reviewed plays she had starred in written for the female gaze, which were lost on the male critics who came to see them.

She acknowledged her part in Penelope Skinner's Lyonesse, which ran at the Harold Pinter theatre in 2023, exploring ambition, motherhood and sexual violence.

Accepting the inaugural Leading Light award at the Women's prize for playwriting ceremony, she said: 'Where would I be without women playwrights? 'To be honest, absolutely nowhere.'

She said: 'The play [Lyonesse] was mostly hated by the critics. So why did people flock to the Pinter to catch it before we all vanished? A clue might be that many of the reviews were written by men who really didn't understand what it is to be a working mother or a child-free actress.'

The plot follows Elaine (Kristin), a formerly famous actress who attracts the attention of Kate (Lily James), a film executive who wants to hear her Me Too story. 

Meanwhile Kate's husband (also a film director) is pestering her to have another child. Soon, Kate, Elaine and Elaine's neighbour Chris develop a keen interest in each other.

The new Women's honour recognises lifetime achievement in the industry, and Dame Kristin made a suitable recipient after appearing on stage since the early noughties.

Dame Kristin detailed the importance of female stories which are told on their own terms, as she cited her menstruation monologue in Phoebe Waller Bridge's Fleabag. 

The British star also touched on her  reflected on how her words 'ripped through the internet' because women related so strongly to what she was saying.

'When Phoebe Waller-Bridge wrote Fleabag series two, she gave me the most fantastic scene about menstruation and metaphors, which ripped through the internet and helped bring what people used to call female problems right into the front row, and even get laws changed.'

The Women's prize was launched in a bid to address gender inequality in theatre and was founded in 2019, with organisers claiming women are under-represented as playwrights.

It is believed that around three-quarters of writers working in UK theatre are men, according to research published by The Stage in 2022.

As well as her work on stage, Dame Kristin is also a stalwart of TV and film.

One of her most notable roles of late is as no-nonsense intelligence chief Diana Taverner in hit TV spy drama Slow Horses.

Her haughty disdain for maverick Jackson Lamb is beloved by fans, after tolerating obnoxious Lamb, played by Gary Oldman, for all five series.

But sources on set recently shared fears that Dame Kristin, who has completed filming of the sixth series, could hang up her deputy director general's lanyard when she finishes filming the seventh, which is currently in preparation.

Her colleagues have told The Mail on Sunday they have detected signals from the star that lead them to believe she may want out from her role as the scheming foil to Lamb and his team of dysfunctional operatives in Slough House.

One said: 'Dame Kristin doesn't seem herself this time around. It's quite sad to see. She doesn't seem as enthusiastic as in the past.

'There is now talk on set that she might soon decide that enough is enough. It's the seventh series – that is a lot of filming. While there is no question that she is an utter pro, and that Slow Horses is a genius production, sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.

'Dame Kristin is used to doing a project and moving on to the next. Slow Horses is definitely not that.'

There have also been reports that she has been arriving on set later than others. One source added: 'She comes across a little bit miserably these days.'

An eighth series of Slow Horses is yet to be announced, but filming is expected to start later next year. There has been no confirmation whether Dame Kristin will continue in her starring role.

When approached for comment on Dame Kristin's plans, her agent didn't respond. But the actress has been candid in the past about how she didn't want to star in long-running television productions.

Until a decade ago, Dame Kristin, who won the Bafta in the 1994 romantic comedy movie Four Weddings And A Funeral, had no interest in working on television series – hinting she may prefer shorter projects.

'It just goes on and on,' she said in an interview last year. 'I get terribly bored. Series bore me.'

Slow Horses executive producer Will Smith said last year that Oldman certainly had no plans to quit. He said: 'I know that Gary Oldman has expressed a desire to play Lamb for ever.'