IMPROVISED FEMINISM

by Margo van de Linde

I am a feminist. I think. But sometimes when I end up in a conversation that makes me want to say those words, I don’t. At a certain point I started to wonder – why? And also – If I’m finding this a difficult subject to approach how must that be for other people and what could I as a theatre maker do to make this conversation accessible and engaging?

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It can be difficult to talk about something when it feels like it’s weighed down by volumes of history, opinion and theory. All of which we can never have fully read. This makes sharing an opinion risky – it could lead to controversy. What if we haven’t read the writings of Simone de Beauvoir or Sojourner Truth? What if our opinion differs from ‘the norm’? What is ‘the norm’? Avoidance could be what keeps existing sexist tendencies in place.

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With Improvised Feminism we create an alternative space for learning together. An intimate circle of no more than 12 people at a time in which we, based on our personal experiences and knowledge, enter into a conversation that we shape collectively. We leave the expectation of what it should be behind and support intuitive sharing with the reading of a range of short quotes and a series of scenes and images performed by two actresses specialised in improvisation and comedy. These moments serve to give shape to our questions, provoke them, dynamise the experience or simply to laugh at ourselves freely.