23rd January 2010, THEATRE: Trilogy

I don't let anyone tell me I've not got an open mind. Which is why when my friend Lisa said that I 'probably wouldn't enjoy Trilogy', I said I definitely would like to go. Even though Trilogy is a 3-hour feminist theatre/dance production. I'll be honest, I was quite nervous about what to expect here. But what I got, in the most part, entertained me greatly, even if some of it seemed a bit oblique to me. The show begins with 40, maybe more, 'normal' women, ie, women who had replied to an ad for 'normal' women who wanted to take part in a dance production whilst naked, dancing naked. It was quite overwhelming. Basically, they danced and jumped and generally went mental, shaking their bits all over the place. It was odd to see women of all shapes and sizes do this kind of thing but the way they danced made it impossible not to get carried along with the joy of the whole thing. After that, there was some stuff between the main cast members that I didn't really get, some bits of a film of a feminist conference thing in the 70s that was brilliant, some hypnotic but strange movement pieces and, finally, a dance where people, actually women only were allowed, from the audience got up on stage, got naked and sang Jerusalem. This did take me out of my comfort zone, I'll be honest, but in the main I had a great time.