Review- The Vagina Monologues, UEA Drama Studio

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Socks – that is what I think my vagina would wear if it wore clothes. If it were an animal I’d like to think it were a Bengal tiger. The cast of The Vagina Monologues gave interesting answers to a plethora of unusual questions over the course of Thursday night’s performance – all in aid of Norfolk-based domestic violence charity, Leeway.

The Vagina Monologues was born after playwright and activist Eve Ensler conducted a series of “vagina interviews” during the late-nineties. Since then the monologues have been performed by hundreds of men and women in a variety of different venues. Minotaur’s decision to stage the play annually was in support of International Women’s day as well as Enslar’s latest campaign One Billion Rising.

The third years chose a minimalistic set- a semi-circle of chairs behind microphones flanked by boards. These boards featured bizarre questions – what is your vagina song? What animal would your vagina be? Over the course of the night each member of the all-female cast took a microphone and performed one of the monologues produced from Enslar’s vagina interviews, the results ranging from humorous to harrowing.

Performers discussed hair, clitorises and menstruation. Orgasms, homosexuality and masturbation. Tampons, moaning and even speculums were examined. Each woman that took the microphone delved into the topics that society is often too shy to talk about. One performer even had the entire audience screaming the word “cunt” as a way of reclaiming it as a feminine pronoun. But among these light-humoured conversations about whether or not there should be hair down there came the more sinister topics. Rape, abuse, clitoral removal and female genital mutilation. The audience’s reactions ranged from laugh-out-loud hilarity to sombre and contemplative silence. It would seem there is a lot more to vaginas than first assumed.

Minotaur’s take on the monologues had a powerful impact on the audience. Each woman’s empowered performance delivered a strong and educational message to those around them. The overall consensus was strong and clear – violence against women must end. That and vaginas aren’t that scary after all.