Not quite sure why I booked this - probably because it looked interesting and I was going to be in the area anyway. If I recall correctly I glanced at the synopsis and thought "Could be fun. A jolly romp through the history of menstruation - cheery post-lunch stuff. I'm in ..."
I was quite wrong. Much more of a performance art piece than cabaret or comedy. Starts with an interesting lecture, then gets weirder and stranger ...
Dr. Marisa Carnesky (she is a real PHD graduate) has been around the performance art scene for quite a while. She was handing out information sheets at the start detailing her previous works, brief bios of the members of the troupe and credits for the show. The show started with Dr Carnesky giving a lecture, talking about the history of menstruation in art and mythology - genuinely fascinating stuff. After watching a brief video in the dark the spotlight picked out Dr. C, except the side of her face was now smeared in blood. "Oh, this is going in a strange direction" I thought ... and indeed it did.
The Guardian actually wrote up this show earlier in the year and they do it far better than I'm capable of, so take a look here.
The general theme seems to be the cultural appropropriation by men (men again) and the taming and isolation of menstruation, robbing it of its magic and spiritual and mental monthly rebirth. Or something. I'm all for celebrating the monthly cycle but I've been lucky enough to know a couple of women in my time and there wasn't much spiritual about the monthly visit from Auntie Flo. I certainly agree we need to be more open and honest about such things, and I'm happy that people such as the good Doctor and her troupe of Menstronauts are out there doing avant-garde art in celebration of a fundamental part of life for half the population and I'm glad I saw the performance.
It was a fascinating, challenging show. Certainly something I hadn't seen before.
No comments:
Post a Comment