list.co.uk/festival This Is Just Who I Am
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Queens of Sheba ways, and ‘seli e culture’ is permeating society more and more, particularly among young people. We’re constantly comparing ourselves to each other, and feeling inadequate. We’ve become wary of saying the wrong things, and so keen to be seen as the ‘right’ kind of person, that we’ve become caricatures of ourselves. So, I wanted to make a show that found the humour in that – in a person trying hard to be seen the right way but perhaps getting it a bit
Feminism | FESTIVAL THEATRE
wrong every time, and all the contradictions and hypocrisies that throws up. ......................................................................... Miranda Prag takes the baton and chats to Jessica Hagan from Queens of Sheba, an expose of misogynoir, the prejudice against black women. MP: Firstly, the show sounds brilliant! Prejudice against black women is a big, urgent subject – why did you decide to approach it through the story of four women? JH: Thank you! Addressing the subject through the story of these four women was actually Ryan Calais Cameron’s idea. Ryan adapted a series of spoken word pieces I’d written for Queens of Sheba and created a storyline from them. I just wanted the story to be told by black women full stop. The most important thing was that the subject was addressed by the women who are directly affected. MP: What does the wider feminist landscape look like to you at the moment, and how does your show i t into it? JH: Good question. The feminism I was initially introduced to was, and still is, extremely white / Eurocentric. It’s something I’ve struggled to i t into personally despite agreeing with a lot of the goals that feminism
hopes to achieve (and is achieving). Going to Ghana, being around the matriarchs in my family and engaging with other black women who struggled to identify with the present day feminist movement revealed to me that the wider feminist landscape is completely different to the loud, white, privileged female voice that speaks over the rest of us. Queens of Sheba rel ects those voices; it’s black women telling everyone else to be quiet and listen to us. No one telling us how to feel, what we should believe in or how we should ‘empower’ ourselves. We demand that all men and non-black and white women listen and learn as we address their prejudices and how they contribute towards the general mistreatment of black women. In short, it doesn’t i t in because it doesn’t need to. White Feminist, Tollbooth Market, 4–25 Aug (not 13), 9.45pm, free.
Coccinellidae, theSpace @ North Bridge, 3–11 Aug (not 5 & 6), 11.35am, £5 (£3). This Is Just Who I Am, Assembly Rooms, 4–25 Aug (not 20), 8.55pm, £9.50– £10.50 (£8.50–£9.50). Previews 2 & 3 Aug, £7.
Queens of Sheba, Underbelly Cowgate, 4–26 Aug, 6.50pm, £11 (£10). Previews 2 & 3 Aug, £7.
1–8 Aug 2018 THE LIST FESTIVAL 113