Director’s Review

I Was There In The Room

The next stroke of luck was getting to work with a group of amazing people who are not only extraordinarily talented, committed and passionate about what they do; they are also some of the nicest, warmest, funniest people I have ever had the good fortune to work with. Not just the cast (more on them in a minute) but also the crew who came up trumps for me with great big vagina shaped bells on! As well as being my first time at directing it was also a first for Stage Manager Jo Woodage. She did an excellent job, always calmly keeping us on track, taking in her stride everything from last minute sound and light changes and pyrotechnics to raffle tickets, emergency shoes, earrings and hair straighteners. Well done, Jo.

The Cast. Left to right: Nancy Heath, Lynne Scragg, Amanda Bodilly, Sue Mowat, Jill Misson and Director, Fenella Harrop. This photo was taken backstage before the ladies went on stage on Saturday night.

As anyone who came along to the show will know, this play takes no prisoners. If we weren’t prepared or able to leave every last vestige of fear, inhibition or ‘prudishness’ at the door then the whole thing would have been a waste of time. It was a huge ask and the girls did me proud. Not until you have sat in a room full of strangers and found yourself talking about some of the most intimate and taboo subjects imaginable will you know how brave and strong (and adept at fighting nausea!) they needed to be. Due to the way the show is set; on bar stools with static microphones and spot lights, the emphasis on the voice grew ten-fold. It was clear to me from day one that every word, comma and semi-colon had to be put to the test. We spent many tiring and painful hours slogging through our pieces, syllable by syllable; working on delivery, pitch, tone, pace, intonation, accent, emphasis, pauses, starts and stops. I know I was quite an uncompromising task master with this but it was worth it. We needed to not only deliver the monologues convincingly but to live them, to be them. The hard work paid off and I feel incredibly proud to have shared the stage with such an amazing team of actors.

The luck continued with a very high turn out which meant lots of money raised for our V-Day beneficiaries; Women of Iraq, Under Siege and Wiltshire Victim Support. My thanks to Tracey Purnell and her colleagues for coming along, enduring a heckler and for all the amazing work they do. Thanks to our wonderful compere BBC Wiltshire’s Sue Davies and also to The Body Shop and Ann Summers for supporting us and for their generous donations. (Who got the mystery, buzzing raffle prize then? Come on, own up!) We have yet to calculate the final figures and will announce them as soon as we have them.

Last but most definitely not least, I am the luckiest woman in the world to have such a patient, understanding and loving husband. Mark endures having an invisible wife for weeks on end, convenience food and no clean clothes, he suffers the public scrutiny of having me say very rude words, fake orgasms and pretend to be a lesbian, dominatrix sex worker and finally has to live through the inevitable hang-over, exhaustion and general anti-climaxness that follows these things. ‘Tis the nature of the beast’, as they say.

The Vagina Monologues experience will stay with me for a very long time. I hope you feel the same.

Fenella Harrop, Director

This was a difficult, thought provoking, one night benefit production at the Swindon Art Centre supporting V-Day.

Each year V-Day creates a spotlight around a particular group of women who are experiencing violence. V-Day Spotlight 2005 is raising funds for Women of Iraq, Under Siege.

OTTC, directed by Fenella Harrop, took the bull by the horns and produced the performance of a lifetime.

Sometimes it was hilariously funny and at other times uncomfortable visions entered my mind as the actors gave such engaging portrayals.

At times there was complete silence, so convincing were the deliveries.

Clever lighting added to the atmosphere.

It was wonderful to see some men in the audience. Did they learn anything from it? I think maybe they did.

All except one that is.

I'm glad to say he was greatly outnumbered by other males who showed they had understood the monologues.

I came away slightly humbled, thankful for my lot and full of admiration for the actors' performances that were without a hint of embarrassment when using strong language, sexual references and in depth details of the female anatomy.

It was a night that I will certainly think about - and remember.

Ros Hollands
Swindon Evening Advertiser