I must admit that I was not able to relate to the show.
Don’t get me wrong… the entire show was very entertaining from the moment Pinky Amador started her monologue and showed her belly button to Eve’s last entry #18 in her diary about Afghan Women eating ice cream illegally. The performances by Monique Wilson, Pinky Amador, and Juno Henares were excellent with their eloquent delivery with the right accent to the emotional facial expressions. Pinky Amador played the role of Eve, she was very funny. Her timing was excellent and her confidence showed through out the entire show. Monique played the role of Woman 1 which means, she would play a lot of roles and have to transform herself through the different woman she portrayed for 2 hours. What was memorable for me was the time she played an aggresive Indian woman in the gym — it was a hilarious scene! Lastly, this was the first time we saw Juno Henares in a play. She has a very beautiful expressive face and a not-so-slim body which fits very well with the role. The highlight for me was her performance on the “spread tuck” — I can still imagine the spread until now…
There was no dull moment except for Entry #13 on Isabella Rossellini portrayal that we ask what was the point of that monologue? This was an adult show obviously and it was very vulgar. I originally thought it was all about women’s obsession on her stomach but it attacks issues on women’s obsession in conforming to society’s standard of beauty defined by a slim and young body. The show is an essay and a deep dive on these issues and provokes the audience to reprogram their minds and love the body they are in. This reminds me of Olay’s tagline “Love the Skin you are in” and Dove’s Natural beauty campaign.
Now, this is where I can’t relate: why women around the world have been “programmed” to hate their body for what it is and always strive to make it a “good body” as defined by society. I guess this would remain a mystery to me and a subject of debate between me and my wife. There was no mention of the Filipina in the show but I bet these issues are also prevalent in our society brought about by the “Kris Aquino” generation. For me, a Good Body is a Healthy Body and that is the standard that we should aim for.
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I read an article “The shape we’re in: Why women are to blame for our obsession with being thin.” By Mimi Spencer http://observer.guardian.co.uk/woman/story/0,,1835485,00.html
I guess this answers your question on why women are “programmed” to hate their body.
My two cents on the play, i think it was just ok. I was bored half-way through. The only time I laughed was when Juno speaks. I liked the way she portrayed the Latina woman who was so concerned about her “spread”, the accent and all. And also the way she talked about “skinny bitches”, and why she can’t be one. I thought Pinky and Monique were boring.
Just like Juno’s monologue, “fat girls” need to exert more effort. They need to be funny in order to stand out. Alas, she did.
anton…that “spread” scene was hilarious…!!! i like the “Delhi Belly” scene as well…juno did a very good job, she’s the best among the three great actors….
So you did watch! We went Saturday night and were scanning the audience for you. Had dinner in Bizu before the show, too bad you couldn’t join. I enjoyed the play very much, although I think “The Vagina Monologues” was much better. I did see many men in the audience laughing heartily at the jokes, but I can understand that most men would have a difficult time imagining just how oppressive and omnipresent the pressure is for women to have the “ideal” body. Personally, the play reminded me to be less harsh on myself and to not be so concerned about how I look. Like I said, the programming is very strong, so it’s always good for the play’s message to be reinforced every so often. 🙂
By the way, Juno Henares was a regular theater actress back in the 80s; I grew up watching her perform in Repertory’s plays. She’s gained weight since then, but she’s still attractive and her talent has clearly not diminished with age.
It was definitely more personal a performance piece than Vagina Monologues (VM was also snappier, and the editing was better). Juno Henares did the best bits, offering the pathos of minority women dealing with their image in a country, America, that doesn’t allow women to be healthy. I also liked the Indian sketch.
For men, it’s not going to be easy to understand the influence of society and to some extent media have on the women’s self-image. I think you have to cast back to the first few minutes of the play, where Eve says in the old days, being good meant sitting with one’s legs closed, being a good mother, serving her family. For more modern women, being good means being superwomen, career, motherhood, and all done in a body that’s got to be perfect. It’s too much stress. A lot of it is also pure hogwash, whitewashed images that don’t fit the reality of what most women go through.
I’m sure other people who watched the play had similar reactions to yours. Hopefully the play spoke to a lot of the women in the audience to lighten up about their bodies.
….IF you know….how men really thinks….beautiful professionals smooth skin nice legs smells great unforgettable smiles great sex appeal young shapely almost perfect woman’s body is men’s dream come true for short periods or a few years if lucky ‘not’ necessarily women they marry….why?….coz everything beautiful and perfect does’nt mean they’re GREAT minds with great characters to live with for the rest of their lives….NOW ‘women’ with great minds but without shapely almost perfect body not also guarantees they can keep their men for life coz men can find that from their preferred psychologists neighborhoods or circle of friends….MEN these days knew that GREAT MINDS beautiful and almost perfect bodies can also be easily ‘NOW’ found in any dating services-talk to me 24 hours sexy-hot lines fixed blind dates or websites that fits their descriptions that can lasts for many years if lucky but are not guarantees they can keep their men for life….why?….coz without TRUE LOVE there can be no true happiness and true comfort….men will always moved forward as they aged…. UNLESS they ARE already WITH their ‘own’ true love to stay….and that is guaranteed….IF WE ONLY KNOW how men thinks….we will never be unhappy lol!….{a thought provoking ‘love’ sense of humors}….lol!….