Friday, February 29, 2008

Vagina Monologues hits Nigeria next month


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14 comments:

le Sapiosexual 6:27 pm  

yay Vagina Monologues, I participated this year at UMDNJ's version, I hope the ladies perform well...and the stupid government doesn't write a bill condemning the show since these days wearing shorts warrants an Indecent Dressing bill

Gbemi's Piece 8:27 pm  

Why is there such a huge gap in the price range? Is it because of the venues or to give "the masses" a chance to attend? So if I don't have N2,500, I have to go sweat it out in Iganmu?

RJ 9:54 pm  

Hmm...just wondering why the word "vagina" isn't spelt out?

Anonymous,  7:30 am  

Why is the director not female? No female directors in Nigeria? abi na who know who?

@Gbemi lol. You want to sit under A.C with the elite? Better go to Iganmu and sweat it out with the masses.

Kehinde,  10:21 am  

@ anonymous, thank you. I was going to ask the same thing. Considering the subject and the audience, it would have been better to have a female director. The female experience can not and should not be interpreted by a male. I don't care if you are the girl whisperer, gay or trans. if u do not have a vjayjay u do not know.

Anonymous,  1:19 pm  

Jeremy, you might want to change 'enlarger' to 'agrandir'.

omidanbellafricaine 4:41 pm  

OMG i have been performing in my school's production for two years last night was my last performance. I wonder what the audience reception will be like even in ny it is kinda hard to get the audience to say c**t. If you get/find a video of the performance please post

omidanbellafricaine 6:11 am  

Why can't a man direct the play? if he is more qualified so be it i don't know why people think you need to be part of the disenfranchised to empathize with the disenfranchised (senator ekaette apparently doesn't) that opinion is why many human rights projects fail, they end up alienating the other group. he got the role of director and last time i checked you do not need a vagina for that p.s. this applies to J's haters.

Anonymous,  4:22 pm  

I'm p****d that I am missing this. I am UK based and would have liked to see the play in a Nigerian setting. Please do it justice and without censorship!

Naijasutra 1:47 am  

i would really love to see this....interesting news.

Anonymous,  9:09 am  

Actuall, this is not the Vagina Monologues but V-Monologues, 'The Nigerian Story'. It's a script written in the style of the Vagina Monologues, from about 200 interviews with Nigerian women all over the country.
After showing the Vagina Monologues for 2 years in a row, feedback from most Nigerians was that they couldnt relate to many of the monologues. Hence the V.Monologues 'The Nigerian Story'. It's called the V monologues because it's inspired by the Vagina monologues.
For those who are wondering about the male director, all i can say is, dont knock it till you see it.

Anonymous,  9:14 pm  

Jeremy, its the "v" monologues. Big difference, totally original lol.

Anonymous,  12:37 am  

I have seen this production, the Nigerian story and it is the worse I have variation i have ever seen. Which 200 women did they interview exactly? The Northern muslim women that are totally absent in the play apart from at the end? the Nigerian lesbians? or are they saying we don't exist? At least in the audience I went with 10 other Zamis/dykes/lesbian (we are yet to find our own local terms). I can't believe that out of 200 dNigerian women interviewed they did not encounter a single lesbian or bisexual women. The play is southern-centric and reinforce the stereotype that Igbo women are the most oppressed in the country.

There is no sense of female sexual agency here. They are even affraid to use the word vagina, you can count how many times. It does not challenge and it does nothing to promote the diversity of Nigerian female sexual world. There is nothing radical about this production, rather, it is one long stereotypical symphony - a bad one at that!!

For all those people who say having a male director does not make a different, believe me, it does. There is a noticeable difference between this production and the previous two directed by women. This is production is militaristic , you wonder how anyone in their right mind can reclaim the 'revolver' as a sign of female sexual agency. And the male voice-over was just a little too much - irritating. Yet again, men speaking the female experience. Only a sensitive and absolutely de-patriachised male can pull such a production off and this male director didn't. It is unnuanced and lacks understanding of the depth, the diversity of nigerian sexual experience. In the whole production, there is only two section that focuses on sexual pleasure. It is just one long round of violence after violence and women can and are encouraged to respond with more violence. Although the original Vagina Monologue was not localised, it is a damn sight better than this crap. It is actually degrading to women. Women are blamed, the ones who oppress and subjugate each other, the ones who perform FMG on their daughters, they are the terrible in-laws etc. There is no attempt to critique institutionalised masculinity, patriarchy and heterosexism.

Jeremy did you see it? I didn't see you there. please get a report and blog about it. It would be interesting to hear what you have to say about it.

Anonymous,  2:26 am  

I saw the V Monologues at the Muson and it was...'a work in progress'.
Actors were good, 3 of them brilliant! The first 75% of the show was predictable and painful to watch, thank God for an end with some laughs, claiming and celebration. We hope to grow!

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