The Vagina Monologues is a 1996 play by Eve Ensler which combines a number of different stories, written based on interviews with women of all ages about how they feel about their lady parts.
Opening the show with a sultry dance performance by to the Cabaret song ‘Mein Heir’ was fun, albeit a little cringeworthy, and the song choice was an interesting one. Perhaps something like Shania Twain’s ‘Man I Feel Like A Woman’ or Carole Kings ‘You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman’ would have been more appropriate.
I’ve seen the Vagina Monologues on stage before with celebrities who sit there, dressed all in black and recite the monologues. This works well enough but this production has taken seven very ordinary looking women, dressed in a variety of outfits and put them in a support group style setting where they each share their stories and are awarded with applause. This is a nice touch to the show and really brings the stories together.
The seven women in this show are all brilliant. Unique in their own special way. Each monologues has a different accent and pace to it and the topics covered range from Rape and Genital Mutilation to stories of women who had never looked at their own Vagina. There are also funny questions asked like “If your vagina could talk, what would it say?” covering all aspects of the female mind.
This version has been updated inline with modern day issues and is a chance for women to embrace the things we do not tend to talk about and is also a crash course in women for the men in the audience.
Reviewed by West End Wilma
The Vagina Monologues is playing at the Bread and Roses Theatre until 27 June 2015. Click here for tickets