Entering the theatre there was an expectant hum of conversation amongst the already seated audience. Once in my seat, my eyes moved towards the stage, taking in the giant ‘V’ that dominated it. Along the front of the stage were lined different pairs of women’s shoes onto which a spotlight was shining alternately. Centre-stage, in front of the ‘V’, three chairs and three microphones were waiting. The scene was set for the start of the world famous Vagina Monologues.

The house lights went down, music began and the three actresses walked onstage to talk their places on their chairs. They began with a brief introduction to the monologues and the reason why Eve Ensler felt that she needed to write them. She began writing because she was ‘worried about vaginas… There’s so much darkness and secrecy surrounding them- like the Bermuda Triangle. Nobody ever reports back from there.’

The monologues themselves are all based on the interviews carried out by Eve around the world. The stories range from those of an elderly Jewish woman to an English participant in a ‘Vagina Workshop’ to a Bosnian victim of a rape camp. All are unique and poignant in their own way. The skilfully written script draws the audience in to the monologues and the lives of the women they depict. The piece is hilariously funny describing truthfully, and sometimes in graphic detail, the problems and worries that women are caused by their vaginas. The usually forbidden topic of ‘down there’ is revealed in all its true glory with stories of hair, child birth and orgasms, nothing is too personal.

In terms of performance, the actresses, Adjoa Andoh, Anita Dobson and Alison Newman, were fantastic. Each monologue really came to life as they were performed and I myself, as well as other women around me could relate to many of the experiences that were shared. The piece is challenging to perform, as actresses (or should I say ‘Actors’ to be PC? Maybe not in this case!) are faced with presenting facts and introductions whilst then being able to shift between different characters in the monologues. This challenge was meet extremely well. My personal favourites were an extremely moving monologue performed by Alison Newman which was dedicated to the thousands of Bosnian woman who had been victims of rape camps, and also that of ‘The Woman who loved to make vaginas happy’, performed by Anita Dobson, which ended with the rendition of some thirty-something different orgasmic ‘moans’ and had the audience rolling in the aisles!

As the show concerns the monologues, the stories of vaginas, it does not rely on technical elements to make the show and I’m sure it has been performed many times without the use of any kind of lighting or sound, simply in a space with an audience. However, in this production lighting was used to great effect in reflecting the mood of each of the monologues. The giant ‘V’ which so dominated the stage was lit by hundreds of light bulbs. These could be lit skilfully to create many different effects. For example, during a monologue about ‘hair’ the ‘V’ was lit to look like it was covered in hair; disgusting but clever!

All in all the performance was fantastic. Although the audience was predominantly made up of women, my boyfriend who accompanied me found it just as entertaining as I did. Although I don’t think he was too impressed by the repetition of the ‘Vagina Fact’ which told us that ‘The clitoris… is the only organ in the body designed purely for pleasure… The clitoris is simply a bundle of nerves: 8000… That’s a higher concentration of nerve fibres than is found anywhere else in the body… it is twice… twice… twice the number in the penis.’ Needless to say, every woman in the audience left with a big smile on their face! 

The Tick List

Set and Lighting

Cast

Story


Overall

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