THE Vagina Monologues will be returning to Perth for the first time in three years, with Australia’s rising domestic and sexual violence rates a stark background.
The play was written by American playwright Eve Ensler and first performed in 1996, and has been described as a poignant and moving series of monologues addressing experiences of rape, body image, genital mutilation, menstruation, sex work, and love, to name a few.
Ensler, who now goes by her pseudonym, ‘V’, interviewed over 200 women from different walks of life and wrote the monologues based on their experiences.
Lit Live producer and actor Sarah McNeill has worked in theatres around the world for over 40 years and was prompted to revisit The Vagina Monologues in response to Australia’s domestic violence epidemic.
• Lit Live producer and actor Sarah McNeill
Ms McNeill says she has altered the performance to include stories “pertaining to Australian women” as the original script is very American based.
“I’ve updated it quite a lot,” Ms McNeill said, “and I’ve made it very much more local.
“It’s also much more celebratory, and much more honouring and uplifting and supporting to women, which is where I think the conversation needs to be.”
Ms McNeill says an uptick in domestic violence figures during the Covid-19 pandemic, paired with the popularity of misogynist internet sensations like Andrew Tate, inspired her to produce the Monologues in a strong and feminist response.
Feminist response
“There is a very strong element around that women are to blame for everything, and that men feel the need to return to that idea that women need to be subdued and subjugated,” Ms McNeill said.
“Maybe I’m sounding a bit weary, but in a time when women can have it all and do it all, it’s exhausting.
“We forget that we need to honour ourselves, and we need to be strong, and we don’t want to be subjugated.
“I very much wanted to make this a celebration.”
Ms McNeill’s adaptation of the Monologues will be performed by three actors, including Ms McNeill herself, Alison van Reeken, and Mikayla Merks.
“Michaela is in her 20s, Alison is in her 40s, and I’m in my 60s, so it’s important to span those generations of women, and each one of us has a monologue to read.
“In between reading the monologues, we portray happy vagina facts, we have unhappy vagina facts, and we have little snippets of stories.
“But essentially, the work is reading the monologues.”
The Vagina Monologues has endured some criticism since it was written, with some academics accusing of it reducing the concept of a woman to an organ.
“Of course women are more than the vagina,” Ms McNeill said.
“In the context of the Vagina Monologues, the vagina just comes to represent everything that we are.
“It’s not just talking about vaginas, although there are some moments that really particularly peer into the vagina, but most of them are a celebration of respect and joy and strength.”
The Monologues will be performed in Fremantle at Victoria Hall as part of the Fremantle Theatre Company’s INDIE program, between August 29 and September 7.
by KATHERINE KRAAYVANGER