Here is my last review for the VAULT festival New Critics Programme :(
If you scroll down, you can read some paragraphs in various shapes, intertwined with doodles of period blood. Image descriptions are underneath each image.
But as a precursor to the experimental format of the review, I want to add a general point about this show. There is a tendency in the study of European history to place certain cultures centre stage as though they are representative of the whole of humanity. This tendency means that all of the rest of humanity is placed in the category of 'other' and ignored. In one of the images below, I suggest researching traditions of menstruation in Amazonian tribes. What I mean by this is that a more in-depth study of different cultures and different histories would make this play a lot more interesting.
That is to say, I would assume different Amazonian tribes have different traditions and different histories to each other around menstruation. Even today, I would think that different cultures around the world have different traditions around periods. You don't even have to go far to find out if that's true - London is a city of universities and immigrants. I am sure that there are academics out there studying different cultural and historical traditions of menstruation who would be only too happy to chat about their research, and I would be curious to hear what people from different communities have to say about the ways in which periods are talked about (or not talked about) in their families and in their cultures.
As a work-in-progress, I would encourage the makers of Period Dramas to delve in and do more research. The music and the dancing is fine, but this play could do so much more to bust open the history of periods.
Image description: Two drops of blood are wrapped around a block of text that says: "Pretty fun! The audience were loving it - she had a huge standing ovation".
I should add that I am not a fan of slapstick comedy, and this play is filled with slapstick, so even though the majority of the audience were in tatters, I did not find it very funny.
A swirl of writing with long trickles of period blood says: "A bit gimmicky. I would have preferred more storytelling and fewer games/songs".
ID: Small swirls of blood encircle a text that says: "Loved the celebration of bleeding! Made me think how biased (our) society is against people who menstruate, and how we are even biased against ourselves! Lovely red decorations/props!"
Little drops of blood drip of a block of text that says: "I would be interested in learning about more cultures, as opposed to just Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Northern Europe. E.g. how do Amazonian tribes handle periods?"*
ID: A large wave of blood contains the following text inside: "An important piece of theatre - we don't have enough shows about periods and female anatomy or sexuality. I hope this has started a trend!"
Period Dramas was on at The Other Palace as a VAULT festival transfer, on the 27th February at 2:30pm and 5pm. You can read more about the show here: https://theotherpalace.co.uk/period-dramas/
I don't think I'll do stars for this one. But here are some drop of blood emojis: 🩸🩸🩸
Ella Satin
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