Monologues, satire tell feminine stories
Stories of femininity will take to the stage in Palmerston North in May.
Femme Fiction, a new theatrical show about the feminine side that potentially resides in everyone, will be on at The Globe.
Director Rhian Firmin said funding from Palmerston North City Council last year helped to develop the play.
She said the show played on the border between fiction and non-fiction while diving into stereotypes about womanhood and addressing the male-female binary system.
The 35-year-old said she had theatre in her blood.
“I’ve been involved with theatre since I can remember, and I’ve always loved storytelling,” Firmin said.
“I trained as an actor, and then I sort of really loved sitting back and being able to see the whole picture.”
That was when she got into directing, almost 10 years ago.
Firmin said she was born in Marton but had been living in Palmerston North since shewas18.
Recently, she directed The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, and Much Ado About Nothing as part of the Manawatū Summer Shakespeare.
Last year, Firmin ran a series of workshops with members of the local community – and one attendee ended up being part of the cast for Femme Fiction.
During the workshops, people were asked provocative questions about femininity and their confrontational experiences, she said.
“It’s all-encompassing femininity, it’s not just attached to womanhood.”
A script emerged from the material collected, and then the newly assembled company started rehearsing a play – Femme Fiction was born.
“It’s a story that we’ve sort of crafted and made up, but they are all real and true stories that have happened to all of us,” she said.
Firmin said the play would not voice any political opinions, but it was rather about personal experiences.
“The piece itself is a collection of monologues as well as ... satirical ads and satirical products and scenes.”
She said defining femininity was difficult, so Femme Fiction would highlight the beauty of the different experiences of femininity instead.
“Because for every single person, it’s a really different thing.
“We’re highlighting that there’s a beauty in the fact that everybody’s femininity is different and we don’t have to strive to be the same.”
Hannah Pratt, a co-producer of Femme Fiction and a cast member, said planning theatre with Firmin always went beyond the mere stories. “She vigorously holds people at the heart of her mahi, so while I’m performing stories for an audience, I’m also learning and growing within myself.”
Femme Fiction is at The Globe Theatre on May 9, 10 and 11 at 7pm.