After performances of The Vagina Monologues in 1996 women in the audiences found their voices; they came after the show to tell Eve their stories. Eve realised then that art could be used to prompt action. In 1998, on Valentine’s Day, V-Day was born where volunteer activists around the world staged productions of the monologues to raise awareness and funds to stop violence against girls and women.
This edition is published to mark the 20th anniversary of V-Day.
The new introduction by the author telling of past performances (often in secret) and the reactions they provoked raises goose-bumps. There are six previously unpublished monologues in this special edition as well as a new foreword and afterword. The monologues themselves move from hilarious to heartbreaking. They tell the story of censorship and in turn of abolishing this silence.
The Vagina Monologues show us the power of words, of art, and how sometimes it takes one person’s courage to speak out to start a much-needed global conversation. Sometimes a book is more than just a book and I can’t recommend this one highly enough.
About the reviewer
Lisa Williams loves to make stuff up and is currently a student on the MA Creative Writing course at Leicester University.
No comments:
Post a Comment