I Have a Mouth and I Will Scream, VAULT Festival

by guest critic Ava Davies

The raging influence of Alice Birch’s revolt. she said. revolt again. runs through this performance art/theatre piece by Abi Zakarian. The six-strong ensemble of women (not all white, which is good, but it could always be less white) are trying to discuss feminism. Is that even the right word anymore? It’s become bogged down in pop culture references, in mass-produced t-shirts, in discussions about depicting vaginas in art. I HAVE A MOUTH… occasionally feels like it drifts into white feminist territory, as much as it tries to unpick and dissect that movement.

Continue reading

Dietrich: Natural Duty, VAULT Festival

B8F4FDC7-0E5A-405D-8B04-B8C6D739334E

by guest critic Tom Brocklehurst

A one wo(man) show by Peter Groom, Natural Duty focuses on Marlena Dietrich’s involvement with the US war effort during World War II. During the war, she spent several years at the front line in France, Belgium and Germany, improving troops’ morale by performing shows and meeting soldiers.

Continue reading

Queen C*unt – Sacred or Profane?, Camden People’s Theatre

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mMtgO9oErOQ/maxresdefault.jpg

by guest critic Lara Alier

Blood. Clit. Cunt. Period…Oh, and nipples. Does it make me feel uncomfortable? Not really. It’s 2018.

Yet I remember two days ago, one of my flatmates couldn’t pronounce the word “vagina” and almost had a fit, gesticulating and mumbling incomprehensible sounds.

Continue reading

Red Bastard: Lie with Me, VAULT Festival

https://assets.londonist.com/uploads/2015/02/i875/a4682785-red_bastard-pinup-original.jpg

by guest critic Lauren Gauge

Swan, dirty pony, or pervert? What kind of lover are you?

Through scintillating physical comedy and personal probing questions uniting, dividing and cross-examining the audience, the truth and the lies are uncovered one by one, social construct by social construct. Who made the rules of love, and why if none of us know who made them, do we follow them*?

*Most of the time.

Continue reading

Inside Pussy Riot, Saatchi Gallery

3843BC0D-D946-48DA-AA82-6C174C739686

by guest critic Maeve Campbell

The performance begins on entering the Saatchi Gallery, and we are asked to fill out questionnaires on preferences of social action. These are then used to tailor our experiences of the performance. We are led into a clinical waiting room, briefed and provided with balaclavas and protest signs. From there we are taken on a journey through Pussy Riot’s experience of the Russian judicial system and labour camps they were subjected to after they stormed Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow in 2012.

Continue reading

Notorious, Barbican Centre

https://i0.wp.com/theupcoming.flmedialtd.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/NOTORIOUS-feat.-Lauren-Barri-Holstein-Krista-Vuori-Brogan-Davison-by-Manuel-Vason_Fierce_day3_5-1000x600.jpg

by guest critic Nastazja Somers

It wasn’t by accident that I ended up seeing The Famous Lauren Barri Holstein’s new work The Notorious at The Barbican Centre. Give me feminism, plenty of liquids and general messiness on stage and I’m there, screaming my head off, like when Lucy McCormick performed her Triple Threat two years ago at Edinburgh Fringe.

Continue reading

Maiden Speech, TheatreN16

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DL3vPPMXkAA1UjF.jpg

In world of Harvey Weinsteins, Bill Cosbys, MRAs and other own-brand misogynists in and out of the arts, A mini-festival of feminist theatre should be a soothing balm to the wounds wrought by male privilege. It is, in part. Though it’s great that feminist work is getting much-needed exposure, Maiden Speech varies in quality and lacks true intersectionality.

Continue reading

(I Could Go on Singing) Over the Rainbow, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

https://www.creativetourist.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/FK_EDITED-732x486.jpg

When I was little, around three or four years old, I went through a phase where I watched The Wizard of Oz everyday. I adored everything about that film. I wanted to grow up to be that brave, stubborn girl who loves animals, with a group of devoted friends making sure she was always safe whilst embarking on her next wonderful adventure in a foreign land.

Continue reading