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 SAMANTHA COLWELL tells ZENOBIA FROST what it’s like to talk about genitalia in front of hundreds of people.
Vagina. Not typically a word we start articles with at Rave, but using it fearlessly in public (the word, not necessarily our vaginas) is what a theatre production opening in Brisbane this week is all about.
Eve Ensler first performed her play, The Vagina Monologues, in a café basement in Greenwich Village, New York. Since that day in 1996 the production – a series of dramatic monologues compiled from the stories of hundreds of real women – has been translated into forty-five languages and been performed in over one hundred countries, from England and the US to Pakistan, Egypt and Indonesia.
Brisbane has played host to The Vagina Monologues before, but THAT Production Company will shed new light on the powerful play, which opens officially tomorrow. The show heads the company’s first full planned season, actor Samantha Colwell tells me. “THAT Production Company has been going for a year now, and the director wants to make the first show in this season something that’s really entertaining and funny. I think if it’s funny it’ll be something that people will listen to, too.”
The play’s creator Eve Ensler is a feminist and non-violence activist from New York. Her intention in writing and performing the play was to remove the shame and secrecy surrounding women’s sexuality and to make women and men alike aware of the consequences of rape, abuse, and even the media conditioning that tells us what vulvas ought to look like, smell like, or do. Says Colwell: “The stories in The Vagina Monologues are really moving – the fact that the characters are talking about vaginas is irrelevant. It’s more about showing that every woman has an story.”
When I ask Colwell how challenging it is talking about ‘down there’ on stage, she replies that it’s less frightening than she thought. “Although,” she cautions, “this will be my biggest audience yet. It’s not much good trying to imagine five hundred people in their underpants.”
“I realised that the connections that the characters had with their vaginas all helped to define their identity as women...”
“One of my monologues,” she continues, “is about a woman who has gone to a workshop to ‘find her clitoris’ and rediscover how to orgasm. I thought dealing with just the language would be scary, but I’ve found it easier to cope with as I’ve gone along. I know the director is really keen to challenge the idea that vaginas are something we can’t talk about. They’re part of being a woman, really, and I guess if you can even make men laugh – the men who are dragged along by their wives – they’ll listen to it as well.”
It’s pleasantly surprising how many men do come along and enjoy The Vagina Monologues. At the last production I saw there were almost as many men laughing – or wiping away tears, depending on the monologue – as women, something Eve Ensler must find tremendously encouraging in her campaign against sexual violence. The playwright’s projects have raised over $50 million dollars for women’s anti-violence organisations worldwide.
The show does contain unsettling stories of rape and assault, but there are also positive stories of women discovering their sexualities, learning about their bodies and celebrating their vulvas. “The last monologue,” Colwell continues, “is about one woman witnessing another give birth. That scene is – I don’t know if touching is the right word, but important.”
My personal favourite monologues include a hilarious scene detailing the sounds one makes during different types of orgasms (including, I recall, ‘the Zen orgasm’), a story about a woman finally becoming comfortable with her sexuality in her old age, and a monologue, called My Angry Vagina, in which the speaker rants about tampons, specula, and ‘deodorising douches.’ “I don’t want my vagina to smell like roses; I want my vagina to smell like vagina!” Amen, sister. Amen.
Talented Brisbane actor Cassandra Ramsay makes her directorial debut with The Vagina Monologues. In explaining why she was drawn to the play, Ramsay explains, “I realised that the connections that the characters had with their vaginas all helped to define their identity as women and, as universal as this was, these are all things that you can’t tell by looking at a woman – you need to actually speak to and listen to her to find out the experiences that made her who she is.”
THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES stars SAMANTHA COLWELL, Belinda Small and Charleen Marters. The show previews on Mar 16, and runs from the Mar 17 to 20 at the Twelfth Night Theatre. Ph: 3252 5122
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