Vagina Dentata – a kabarett: re-Imagining The Vagina Monologues

Abstract

Eve Ensler's play, The Vagina Monologues (2001), has been criticised by several feminists for its uncomplicated glorification of the vagina and subsequent assumption of sameness amongst woman of all ages, races, cultures and sexualities, despite the fact that Ensler's own white middle-class American voice is clearly privileged. This article investigates the possibilities of subverting Ensler's brand of feminism through a new kabarett which is loosely based on The Vagina Monologues (2001). It explores how the use of irony, satire and alienation aid a feminist theatre practitioner in addressing issues which are of dire importance in the South African context in a way which allows her to make multi-layered commentary and inspire critical thinking while reconciling feminist theory with theatrical practice.

Keywords:

• Feminism
• feminist theatre
• The Vagina Monologues
• ‘kabarett’
• sexual violence
• South Africa

Notes

1. I am aware of the fact that Ensler has added monologues since 2001. However, the 2001 version was our point of reference while writing Vagina Dentata (2011) and thus my commentary is based on this particular edition of the play.

2. Corrective rape is the act of a man raping a lesbian in order to ‘correct’ her homosexuality.

3. Moffet suggests that ‘the most alarming of the judge's decisions … was his legal blurring together of the accuser's sexual history and her history of sexual violence’ (Moffet 2009, p. 175). Kwezi's prior rapes as a child were used against her in that it was suggested that she was ‘unstable, emotional and disturbed’ and thus her testimony was ‘unreliable,’ which meant ‘the hoary old stereotypes of hysteria and neurosis were flagrantly invoked’ during Jacob Zuma's rape trial (Moffet 2009, p. 175).

4. Space does not allow me to do an in-depth analysis of the new text. Therefore, this is merely a summary.

5. Greta Pietersen replaced Pascal Pienaar in January 2012. It was decided that the ‘expert’ she would play would still be a ‘performance artist extraordinaire,’ but that she would be a German performer named Rainbow. Two of Rainbow's performance art pieces are based on Sunbeam's pieces, namely ‘Vagina,’ her response to Ensler's glorification of the vagina, in which she dresses up as a vagina and sings a song in German about her vagina being her best friend entitled ‘Meine Kleine Katze’ (see Figure 2), as well as ‘Beat me Blau,’ her response to domestic violence, in which she dips her hands in blue paint and throws it onto a white canvas (Bain et al., 2012). Her third performance art piece was added to the new text, which was her response to child rape in which recites a poem about an ‘emperor.’ She is dressed in baby clothes and points at a doll's vagina in order to indicate that this ‘emperor’ didn't ‘touch [her] there’ (Bain et al., 2012).

6. Wessel Pretorius collaborated with Bain, Koopman, Pietersen and Olwagen to rework the text.

7. The writers chose to address apathy because they were concerned about the fact that rape has become such a common occurrence in our society that South Africans have become desensitised to it. However, I am aware of the fact that it is absurd to imply that all South Africans are apathetic to sexual violence and thus feel I should mention the kabarett acknowledges that it is often difficult to try and make a difference as an ordinary South African citizen, as is stated in the ‘epilogue’: ‘… we are not claiming to be better than any of you; if we are honest, we would say we don't know what to do. It's easy enough to criticise these crimes against humanity, but where does that leave average middle-class you and me?’ (Bain et al., 2012).

8. Rape within the marriage.

9. An offensive Afrikaans term for lesbians which translates directly as ‘vagina bumpers’.

10. Zuma's decision to appoint Judge Mogoeng Mogoeng (also a pastor) was considered to be rather controversial, since Mogoeng Mogoeng has a reputation for reducing the prison sentences of men accused of rape and other forms of violence against women. Furthermore, his church preaches that homosexuality is a perversion (Scholtz 2011, Online).

11. ‘It bothers me that rape is “fought” with a type of Broadway-dance – the message becomes completely confused.’