Venue: Lost Theatre, Wandsworth
Date: 2 July
Rosie Wilby’s humour-filled Quest tale of attempted
rediscovery of all that student anger and passion that swallowed us up whole at
19 and 20 offers a humble, nostalgic but not nauseating lens through which to
peer back in time at our younger selves (especially those of us that were ‘activists’
and feminists in our glory days) and re-live what is was that fuelled us in our
wonder years, and what formed us to the ‘grown ups’ we are today (or perhaps
still aspire to be).
Autobiographical and often self-deprecating but at the same
time universal and engaging, Rosie takes the audience on three journeys. From
the attic of her childhood home, thanks to a mother who hasn’t thrown anything
away, to York university in the early nineties, we trace the steps of Rosie’s
quest to find out why it mattered to be a feminist then, and where it sits with
the women of Matrix newspaper (York’s first student feminist paper) today.
The performance opens with a mysterious set of curiosities
(props) laid out on a table, and Tori Amos’s “Crucify” as a soundtrack,
building in expectation towards a Star Wars/Red Dwarf-esque entry that is
complimented by another angry female guitar track from Wilby’s own 90s band.
Once back in the past, and then the further past, Wilby
muses over why women got involved in the cause in the first place – was it
about fitting in, finding a voice or lust-driven (mainly lust), or all of the
above in some cases?
There are also, inevitably, losses to mourn, the loss of
that political passion as people grow up, the loss of women’s only spaces and
the worrying evolution of political feminism into girl power followed by
apathy. Meaning the issues that were written about in the original Matrix (body
image, violence against women) were the same issues that were being written
about in Matrix Reloaded the 2006 reformed version of the magazine.
Video clips of lively interviews with some of the former
Matrix feminists provided a light hearted and wider subjective perspective of
the origins of Matrix and joining the cause, and give Wilby the opportunity to
comment on the quest and its journeys, via subtle but hilarious re-enactment
mime, with props, of what is taking place on screen.
As the journey, and pursuing narrative rounds its climax,
the pace quickens, the soundtrack swells and a triumphant Rosie emerges from a gate
crashing-lake entrance scenario, only to be escorted away by Security and
twenty years of time passing.
If you were ever an angry student, or if you’ve ever looked
back at your life and thought that used to really mean something to me, this
one-woman show is for you.
Witty, empathetically nostalgic, and incredibly well
narrated; a thoroughly enjoyable piece with a chance for self reflection thrown
in.
By Katie
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