The Vagina Monologues
Come for the chocolate stay for the vagina!
An air of celebration–and vendors selling vagina shaped chocolates–filled Wenjack Theatre the week of Valentines Day. The oft-dreary lecture hall was filled to capacity with a wide assortment of Trent students who were brought together by their common desire to hear ninety minutes of vagina talk.
The Trent Women’s Centre and Theatre Trent produced a bubbly, spirited and all-around admirable performance of The Vagina Monologues. The Vagina Monologues is a touring show based on Eve Ensler’s interviews with hundreds of women about their vaginas. The show has achieved cult status since its 1996 debut.
The show ran for three nights. The skits were short, entertaining, and filled with cute phrases, colourful acting, and humourous quotes.
Martha Crealock delivered a wonderful soliloquy about a woman who finds her vagina for the first time at the age of 72. She spoke about her vagina as a musty old basement; getting wet “down there” was equivalent to a basement flood. Crealock put on a convincing performance, and was unfaltering in her impersonation of a New Jersey accent. Her timing and delivery and obvious enjoyment of the show was infectious.
Jessie Short delivered a well-versed monologue about pubic hair. Her monologue told the story of a woman who reluctantly agrees to trim as a last-ditch effort to keep her husband from going astray.
Emily Lonie sat cross-legged on a blue gym mat and told a story about discovering her clitoris (and ultimately herself) through a vagina workshop. “My vagina amazed me! I was speechless, my teacher said I had vagina wonder–it was more fascinating than the Grand Canyon. I wanted to lie down and explore it all day!”
“With her middle fingers raised to the audience Susan Dalton screamed: “Vagina Motherfuckers!”–a few of the concrete pillars strained under the pressure of the rapturous laughter. Dalton was doing the “Angry Vagina” monologue, lamenting about the challenges that vaginas face. Challenges such as dry rods of fucking cotton (tampons), thong underwear, rubber gloves, and vaginal exams. The Angry Vagina feels that all of these items were invented to make the vagina as miserable as possible.
“Reclaiming Cunt” looked like it would be the most enjoyable monologue to do–the core of Faith McCoy’s monologue was a four letter word that you probably shouldn’t say in the presence of your grandmother. Not only did she reclaim the offending word but she also had the audience yell it at the top of their lungs.
This is the third year that Ensler’s monologues have been franchised out to Trent University. This meant that the monologues were presented from an exclusively American voice. It really would have been nice if a Canadian version of the Vagina Monologues was written or better yet, if Trent Students could write their own monologues, however, those performing the monologues are not allowed to change script.
Regardless, the actors all put on a stellar performance. This group of actors, coming from such a small university, faithfully produced a professional, world-renowned show. They would all do Ensler proud! Way to go!
