"How to Date a Feminist". Burton Taylor Studio. Review by Anuj Mishra
How to Date a Feminist is a 2016 play by British writer Samantha Ellis, and at times it feels a relic of a time just long enough ago to be démodé, but not long enough ago to be nostalgic. Its scenarios (costume-parties and coffee shops) seem at home in the era-defining medium of the YouTube mini-series, and the play brims with the existential questions that were once hot topics of discussion: How can a man be a feminist? How should a feminist reconcile sexual desire with sexual politics?
Nonetheless this production, directed by Robyn Patterson and
Ivy Stephens, managed to resonate. The rom-com’s titular ‘feminist’ is actually
the male love-interest, Steve (Esther O’Neill), rather than its central strong,
independent woman, Kate (Bella Bradshaw). This is revealed in the very first
scene, where in a disorienting turn of events, Steve proposes to Kate by
apologising for patriarchy.
As with most rom-coms, the play turns swiftly to the
couple’s marriage. Here, the slightly cringe principled stances of both
characters – Steve refuses to fix Kate’s Google maps at one point (because
feminism), while Kate grapples with her thing for ‘bad’ men – crumble as they
are forced to consolidate their love with their realities.
Kate’s stereotypically stiff Jewish father is implacable,
politically incorrect, and resents feminists because his wife left him after
reading Kate’s copy of Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch. Steve’s
mother, a die-hard feminist who has spent six years camping on Greenham Common protesting
nuclear weapons, is equally implacable. Remarkably, both parents are played by
O’Neill and Bradshaw themselves, and both display fabulous versatility.
As the pair of actors take up the guises of the play’s array
of characters, they change onstage in low-lighting, taking their costumes from
the play’s only prop: a large ottoman which doubles as a dressing-up box. This
makes for moments of comedy as O’Neill and Bradshaw struggle to put on trousers
and hang up signs in full view of the audience, adding to the play’s already
palpable charm.
Though both actors at times began to stumble over lines,
their stamina to pull through a show without scene-breaks was commendable. The
performance of Bradshaw especially, deploying accents and off-the-cuff quips,
made for an enjoyable watch.
How to Date a Feminist – better perhaps ‘How to Marry
a Feminist’ – is charming, funny, and makes for an evening of light-watching.
Runtime: 85 minutes. 7.30pm at the Burton Taylor Studio
until 30th November.
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