2 – 5 November
Over twenty-five years have passed since Eve Ensler published her groundbreaking first draft of “The Vagina Monologues”, the result of one-to-one interviews with over two hundred women across the world about their views on sex, relationships and violence against females. The subsequent play went on to become a global phenomenon over the following decade, but aside from small college productions and some adapted versions for different cultures and languages, recent audiences have been denied many opportunities to see it performed on the stage over the last ten years. A brief renaissance at Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre is, therefore, perhaps long overdue, with five performances this week.
Thematically, visually, and in terms of the speeches’ content, little has changed in twenty-five years. A minimalist stage greets the audience: three bar-stools, with some incidental tables in between, and some spotlights, are all that are needed to transport us into an intimate setting without distractions. The monologues themselves require little else, relying solely on the power of the individual stories they narrate to convey a simultaneously entertaining and shocking mix of the dramatic and the humorous. Step forward Michelle Collins, Nina Wadia and Louisa Lytton, to deliver the monologues, which they do with considerable skill, and in a range of accents and styles, and with a developing warmth and chemistry between them.
Having never seen the show until this evening, I had previously imagined it to be rather like gatecrashing a hen night, suspecting that I, along with the other men who, last night, comprised approximately ten per cent of the audience, might come in for some gentle (or not-so-gentle!) baiting during the evening, a suspicion which was fuelled further by a female usher commenting on how “brave” I was on my way into the auditorium. However, I found what followed over the next ninety minutes to be a revelatory insight into the feminine condition, as each performance successfully explored a range of concerns: body image, love, rape, menstruation, sex work, female genital mutilation, orgasm and childbirth, amongst other themes. Whilst some of these are explored through humour – a lengthy list of synonyms for the vagina, for example, and Nina Wadia’s memorable orgasm monologue – other speeches deliver their message with unflinching power, honesty, and an uncompromising use of language, with “My Vagina Was My Village”, for example, exploring the gritty and devastating testimonies of Bosnian women who were subjected to rape camps during the Balkans War. And while many of the monologues present, and rightly celebrate, the vagina as a tool of feminine empowerment, these are juxtaposed alongside others which remind us of the vulnerability of women too. And while with some of the monologues, it is clear to see how times and attitudes have changed in a quarter of a century, it seems ironic that the overarching, and enduring, messages and themes of such an important play are just as relevant, if not more so, to the post-‘Me Too’ and Harvey Weinstein audiences of 2022. It is what makes this revival so apposite.
The return of “The Vagina Monologues” is both welcome and well-timed, and is highly recommended for all. Men included. In fact, fellow men, you really should see this.
★★★★☆ Tony Clarke 2 November
