list.co.uk/festival Feminism | FESTIVAL THEATRE
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CHAIN REACTION White Feminist
What happens when artists talk to each other? Theatre editor Gareth K Vile fi nds out in this ‘relay’ interview, where four performers tackling feminist issues at the Fringe interview each other about their shows
T his year, there are a large number of works calling themselves feminist, and drawing attention to movements like #metoo. This would have been remarkable in 1973: in 2018, it stands out because of the abject failure of the broader theatre scene to engage consistently with female representation. Lee Minora’s White Feminist wants to go further than a surface celebration.
GKV: You’re asking for a broader interrogation of feminist theatre: can you tell me a bit about that? LM: A broader interrogation of feminist theatre has to come from a broader interrogation of feminism itself. My show White Feminist is an exploration of . . . white feminists! White women, like me, i nd ourselves in dual roles as oppressor and oppressed. Navigating gender and privilege comes with heaps of juicy, complicated hypocrisy and failures that can be painfully funny and biting. GKV: Do you think that theatre – especially at the Fringe – is an effective place for this conversation?
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intentions; LM: Hell yes! I’d grown so bored by the theatre of good that seems to be congratulating liberals instead of challenging them. Why was I watching so many plays that were designed to educate MAGA hat-wearing, conservatives, who don’t even go to theatre? I set out to make a piece that interrogated good intentions, that could l ex and evolve with current events, and meets the people in the room where they are. So yes, it’s a great place to have this conversation and get the piss taken out of you.
GKV: So: are you one of the good ones? LM: Ha! This is the question of the show, Gareth! But for me: Oh God, no. I think the ‘good ones’ are the self- satisi ed, virtue- signalling ones, who believe they’ve i gured out feminism. But I think being a good feminist or ally is like having good hygiene. You have to bathe all the time to be hygienic. You have to constantly be learning, and self- evaluating, and fucking-up, and looking at your mistakes, and then trying again so you can be better and better. >>
1–8 Aug 2018 THE LIST FESTIVAL 109