Last night, I was listening to Arena on RTE Radio and caught an interview with Nic Green, the director and writer of Trilogy which opens tonight as part of Absolut Fringe. Much has been made of the appearance of 50 naked women dancers (all volunteers) in the play, but it’s within the context of looking at femininity, representations of the female body and what it means to be a woman.
In the interview Nic spoke about her work with 8 – 11-year-old girls where she started to hear the beginnings of body dysmorphia; of girls fretting over their weight. She also discussed the feminists who inspired her and said that they were “women in my own life, rather than celebrities” and that a lot of writers had also impacted on her. Another project she is involved in is www.makeyourownherstory.org and according to the site:
“The Make Your Own Herstory Project argues the case for placing creativity and reflection at the heart of political and personal development. For us, this is not a question, but a necessity.”
There are various chapters on the site about making your own “womanifesto” or female Family Tree to making your own anthem. I like the idea of ‘Make Your Own Statue’ which might involve – in Green’s words – “adding a pair of tinfoil ear-rings”.
“Choose your favourite female icon - the chances are, shes underrated! Why not dress a local patriarchal statue as the woman you admire? Dont forget to stick a sign over the existing name stating who she is, when she was born and died (if applicable) and what she did.”
She was a fascinating interviewee, who spoke in an inspiring way about womanhood and feminism. Trilogy opens tonight at the Project Arts Centre and runs until Saturday. The performance starts at 7pm and runs for three hours.
Arena interview with Nic Green here:
If somebody of the contributors of this blog have seen the performance, would you like to share your response to the piece?
I am one of the women volunteering and all I can say is that it was such a fantastic empowering experience to be part of. Every women in the group seems to be grateful and has so much positive energy and you would not believe how those days of working with Nic and her performers and the group of women with very different backgrounds, hopes and bodyhistories have changed us (I am actually overwhelmed by it).
We are proud and celebrating to be on stage and hope to make it visible for the audience. We accept ourselves the way we are and we are not ashamed of who we are.
I saw the show on Saturday. At the end of the first part I was in tears. I can’t explain why, but something about seeing so many Irish women dancing so freely, was literally overwhelming. And joyful. I wish I could put my finger on why it moved me so much, but I suspect it will take me a long time to think that one over.
That’s what is fantastic about the show – the many different things it gives you to consider. And those things are not external to you – it’s my own reactions that I’m still processing. It provokes feelings and emotions without shoving anything at you. It was a completely different way to engage with feminism. Feminism as a lived reality rather than a discussion topic or academic theory, or a label. I am so glad I went and so very grateful to all the women who participated so I could experience it.