The Vagina Monologues

Written by Eve Ensler

Tuesday 15th February and Wednesday 2nd March 2005

Directed by Paul Millington and Robin Hall

The Vagina Monologues is a feisty, sensitive, touching, funny and sad piece of theatre, quite unlike anything else.

This is a joint production with Portsmouth Rape Crisis Centre as part of V-Day 2005. The V in V-Day stands for Victory, Vagina and Valentine (V-Day takes place on 14th February). The aims of V-Day are to raise awareness of the violence faced by women and girls, and to raise funds to stop it. Our production will raise funds for this year's nominated V-Day charity this year "Women of Iraq Under Siege" and primarily for the Portsmouth Area Rape Crisis Service (PARCS).

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AuthorEve Ensler

Eve Ensler (b 1953)

Eve Ensler was born in New York and graduated from Middlebury College in 1975. As well as being a playwright, she is also a performer and activist for women's rights. Best known for her play 'The Vagina Monologues', Ensler originally starred in the production. As a playwright she has won many awards including an Obie Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship Award and a Berrilla-Kerr Award. Her other works include 'Conviction' 'Lemonade' and 'The Good Body'.

Ensler is also a prominent anti-violence activist. In 1998, her experience performing 'The Vagina Monologues' inspired her to create V-Day, a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day raises funds and awareness through annual benefit productions of 'The Vagina Monologues'. In 2008, more than 4000 V-Day events took place in approximately 1250 locations in the U.S. and around the world. To date, the V-Day movement has raised over $60million and educated millions about the issue of violence against women.

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ShowThe Vagina Monologues

The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play which originally ran at the off-Broadway Westside Theatre and at HERE Arts Center in 1996. The production has been staged internationally in over 70 countries, and through V-Day, has raised money for women's anti-violence groups. Eve Ensler wrote the first draft in 1996 and there have been several revisions since. Ensler originally wrote the piece to "celebrate the vagina." however she states that in 1998, the purpose of the piece changed from a celebration of vaginas and femininity to a movement to stop violence against women.

The show is made up of a varying number of monologues read by a varying number of women. Every monologue somehow relates to the vagina, be it through sex, love, rape, menstruation, mutilation, masturbation, birth, orgasm, the variety of names for the vagina, or simply as a physical aspect of the body. A recurring theme throughout the piece is the vagina as a tool of female empowerment, and the ultimate embodiment of individuality.

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The Bench Production

This play was staged at Havant Arts Centre, East Street Havant - Bench Theatre's home since 1977.

Cast

Introduction	Amanda Eels Jo Bone Steph Chaplen
Hair	Sally Hartley
Wear and Say	Joy Kelsey Laura Bradshaw Sarah MacLaughlin
The Flood	Ingrid Corrigan
The Vagina Workshop	Sue Dawes
Because He Liked To Look At It	Sharman Callam
Vagina Happy Fact	Lorraine Galliers
I Was Twelve. My Mother Slapped Me	Elizabeth Williams Karen Polley Steph Chaplen Zoë Chapman
Not So Happy Fact	Lorraine Galliers
They Beat The Girl Out Of Me	Helen Murfin Kim Hosier Sal Swann
My Angry Vagina	Jo Bone
	INTERVAL
My Vagina Was My Village	Lorraine Galliers
The Little Coochi Snorcher That Could	Lynda Fleming
Smell	Joy Kelsey Laura Bradshaw Sarah MacLaughlin
My Short Skirt	Andrea Summers
Reclaiming Cunt	Sally Hartley
A Six Year Old Girl Was Asked ...	Gina Farmer
The Woman Who Loved To Make Vaginas Happy	Zoë Lodrick
I Was There In The Room	Amanda Eels

Crew

Directors	Paul Millington Robin Hall
Technical Crew	Tim Taylor Andrew Caple
Production Crew	Members of Bench Theatre
Artwork and publicity	Zoë Lodrick

Director's Notes

We have both directed before, and wanted to again, and when PARCS approached the Bench to ask if anyone would like to be involved in a fundraising production we didn't hesitate to say yes.

There are lots of things that appeal; plenty of challenging parts for women for one (there never seem to be enough to go around). The show has everything - it is funny, sad, moving, easy to relate to, real and both profound and intelligent. It will make you laugh and cry in the same evening and give you things to think about for a few weeks and beyond.

It is refreshing to be able to talk about vaginas without having to be embarrassed, to accept that a vagina is no more shameful than ones knee or hand. (After all, more than 50% of us have one, and most of the rest of the population seem to be quite keen on them.) This show has received a lot of attention, but much of that has been "tabloid" in nature, cries of outrage at the rude language, prudish fascination at who has dared to perform it, but not (that we have seen) a lot of sensible discussion.

These pieces have a lot to say about vaginas. They also have a lot to say about women and how they see themselves, and how that is affected by the attitudes they encounter towards themselves and their bodies. They are as much of interest to men as to women, and we're sure that everyone will find something here that they can relate to.

Performing a monologue, or in a very small group, can be an unnerving experience, and directing such a piece daunting. We have been very fortunate to work with such a lovely, adventurous, easygoing group of women (and so many of them) who have made this a joy. Some of the performers you see tonight are already famed for their talents; some are completely new to the stage and all have been willing to offer something of themselves through their acting.

Many people have worked very hard to make tonight happen in order to raise money for an excellent cause. If we have done any hard work we were having too much fun to notice. We hope you find it as rewarding to watch in performance as we did in rehearsal.

Paul Millington and Robin Hall

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