Well… That’s it! False Title’s WOMENSwear (2015) is officially over and what a crazy journey it has been! The experience has been phenomenal, heart aching, exhilarating and exhausting and now I am going to find a dark comfy place to hide for a while.
After weeks of surviving from a few hours sleep a night, I am filled with a strange sense of the surreal. Is it really all over?
My intention was to provide an broad frame of stories and issues- some which the audience would agree with, others they may be offended at. As a writer I believe it is important to have diversity within a play as it helps give scope to the issues you are performing. Since the performance on Tuesday 19th May, I have received a large variety of feedback which I plan to use to help build the show, ready for its next incarnation. The feedback I have received has been both positive and negative and although I initially felt concerned, I have grown to really appreciate the honesty and sincerity of our audience.
I have had a few questions about what my intention was, and I have found this really difficult to answer. This is a question I have continuously asked myself throughout the writing of WOMENSwear (2015), and I will continue to ask myself for as long as I am working on the show. Initially, my point was to provide the audience with a broad outlook of women problems and contrast real issues with trivial ones. However, this journey with False Title has uncovered so many other messages and purposes for me as a writer that I have only touched the surface of. Therefore, I think it is undeniable that although some have remained, other intentions have surfaced and grown, leaving space for future development.
Furthermore, I also received feedback regarding some of our audience being confused about the show’s stance on feminism. Lines such as “We are feminists who hate men” and “We are the emotional sex” were placed in the show to add diversity of opinion and are not my own personal opinion. All of the ‘We…’ lines were placed in the show as a universal expression of what a woman is and are things that I have found throughout my research. Therefore, I wanted to portray a broad outlook on these ideas by contrasting them with with more trivial lines such as “We have not had sex in six months”. As I continue to develop the show, I feel it is important to work of the execution of these lines and work on finding a way to exploit the difference between them more clearer.
I have found throughout the feedback I’ve received a range of different opinions. As writer and director of the show, the idea of being told that what you are doing is bad is always a daunting prospect. The idea of hearing these words has played on my mind since I started writing the show back in November 2014, and have remained ever since. However, I still retain the perspective that audience feedback is crucial in developing a show further. I feel it is always difficult to obtain criticism about your work, because you have such an emotional investment in it. WOMENSwear (2015) is not just a show for me, it is a part of who I am as a person and it will continue to grow as I do. Since it’s conception, I could never imagine a time were I would say, “right, that’s it, I’m done now” and retaining this mindset has been incredibly tough. However, due to the nature of the show, I think the play will continue to develop for as long as we still witness gender inequality in the world. For me, the show is not just a play, it is a personal confession which seeks to unravel a broad frame of women issues, whatever they may be.
So is WOMENSwear (2015) over? No – not even close!
Citations
Thomas, S. (2015) WOMENSwear.