Staging Feminism

A dramaturgical approach to ‘intersectionality’, ‘body politics’ and ‘gender construction’ as

working concepts in a feminist theatre and performance practice.

MASTERTHESIS Student Floor Cremers Student number 10631291 Master’s programme Arts & Culture | International Dramaturgy University of Amsterdam Supervisor Associate professor Dr. Sruti Bala Second reader Professor Dr. Kati Röttger Date of entry 10-07-2018 Master Thesis Staging Feminism Floor Cremers

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... 1

Introduction ...... 3

CHAPTER 1 History of Feminism – from a sociological and performance theory perspective .... 7 § 1.1 Strategies for analysing feminism ...... 8 § 1.1.1 Analysing Feminism socio-historically – The wave analogy ...... 8 § 1.1.2 Analysis through performance theory ...... 9 § 1.2 Second wave feminism ...... 12 1.2.1 Key concepts for second wave feminism ...... 13 The personal is political ...... 14 Patriarchy ...... 15 Sisterhood (and its limitations) ...... 17 § 1.2.2 Feminist practice: The personal became aesthetic ...... 17 § 1.3 Third wave feminism ...... 20 § 1.3.1 Difference-thinking in reaction to the second wave’s unification...... 21 § 1.3.2 What this resulted in: Intersectionality ...... 21 § 1.3.3 The poststructuralist-turn ...... 23 § 1.4 Fourth wave? ...... 24 § 1.4.1 Critique of the third wave: divisive, competitive and individualistic ...... 25 § 1.4.2 Commodification of feminism ...... 26

CHAPTER 2 Intersectionality – as a condition and an outcome of a production process. ... 29 § 2.1 What is Intersectionality? ...... 29 § 2.2 Intersectionality in theatre and performance theory ...... 31 § 2.3 Intersectionality in We shall not be moved...... 32 § 2.3.1 Genealogy of the project and the process of creation ...... 32 § 2.3.2 An intersectional inquiry into ‘Hip-hopera’ as a multidisciplinary practice ...... 33 § 2.3.3 Intersectional reflection on storyline and characters ...... 36 § 2.3.4 Context programming ...... 38

CHAPTER 3 – Performing body politics – Reclaiming a narrative ...... 40 § 3.1 Sexual repression as a starting point for analysis ...... 40 § 3.2 Cock… Cock… Who’s there? ...... 42 § 3.2.1 The use of the medium film – The Male Gaze ...... 43 § 3.2.2 Conversations with friends and family - the personal is political ...... 44 § 3.3 Men as objects of research - Taking control over the male gaze ...... 45 § 3.4 Documentary/lecture form as a performance strategy ...... 47

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CHAPTER 4 Gender construction in Hamlet vs. Hamlet ...... 49 § 4.1 Concstruction of gender ...... 49 § 4.2 Hamlet as an androgynous figure ...... 51 § 4.3 Geneology of Hamlet as a classic gender(ed) story ...... 54 § 4.4 Androgyny of Hamlet as an in between state ...... 57

Conclusion ...... 60

Works cited ...... 63

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Introduction Feminism is hot. Every day you can read about it in the newspapers1, hear about it on talk shows on TV2 or join debate groups in real life and on social media.3 In the major stores you can get T-shirts with popular feminist slogans like “the Future is Female”, “We Should All be Feminists” or “Radical Feminist”. You can listen to Beyoncé, and buy a fake gold necklace with “feminist” to make it apparent to the world what you are: a smart, sexy, happy feminist woman. Once every few weeks a new public debate emerges on topics like gender equality, masculinity and LGBTQ rights not seldom resulting in a full blown moral panic, for example when it came to discussing gender neutral toilets in public places, or when the municipality of Amsterdam decided to address its citizens as ‘dear citizens’ instead of using a gender indication when addressing the people of Amsterdam – just like the largest Dutch railway organisation changed the start of its announcements from ‘ladies and gentlemen’ to ‘dear passengers –. It is against this current backdrop that I have become increasingly interested in the origins of feminism and gender studies, in order to better understand the operations and efficacy of gender inequality within society at large, and in how it affected me personally. Especially in relation to dramaturgy, my current field of study. In working with theatre makers, the dramaturg both promotes a general awareness of the world we live in today and at the same time he or she attempt to grow a form of consciousness in the development of the theatre makers core concepts for a particular performance. In order to do so, the dramaturg needs to understand the structures that shape the world now and that have shaped the world in the past. Using feminism as a lens through which to analyse disparities in the real world, in everyday life, so to say, made me wonder. How can I apply feminism as an analytical tool to analyse theatrical performances today? This resulted in the following research question:

1 https://www.volkskrant.nl/alle-nieuws-over-feminisme/ Volkskrant, applying the search term ‘Feminisme’. Last accessed on 10-04-2018 2 https://www.vpro.nl/speel~POMS_AT_13002826~de-emancipatie-van-de-man~.html TV show called Buitenhof. Episode dedicated to the emancipation of men. Or check https://evajinek.kro- ncrv.nl/onderwerpen/feminisme-voor-vrouwen-en-mannen the web channel dedicated to feminism by Eva Jinek, a popular Dutch talk show host. Last Accessed on 10-04-2018 3 For example, at debate centre De Rode Hoed, there is a full series dedicated to young feminists waging battle against beauty ideals and imaging of women called “De Schoonheidssalon” and there is an essayclub called “Fast Feminsim” in which feminist literature and major influential ideas are being discussed. http://www.rodehoed.nl/nl/programma/Series/ Last accessed on 10-04-2018.

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How can feminism be used as a lens to analyse contemporary performances in the Dutch performance context, both in terms of drawing meaning from a performance as well as understanding the influence of feminism on artistic strategies and performance methods of theatre makers today?

There is a saying that there are as many feminisms as there are feminists. To say you are a feminist thus calls for a dialogue. A historical understanding of the term ‘feminism’ seems essential for a dramaturg in the dialogue with the artistic team, in order for the performance to become more politically effective in that area. The first part of this thesis will sketch the genealogy of contemporary western feminism, leading up to a number of newly manifested fields of study that have their origin in feminist thinking: Intersectionality, gender studies and body politics. The history of feminism can be delineated in different ways. One way is through following the sociological-historical line for analysis, using distinctive historical events and newly developed key concepts that have shaped the societal structures and academic discourse. Another line of thought can be traced back to categories of ideological affiliations with movements, like the liberal, radical and materialist feminist thought. This is more often used in analysing performance theory, for example in The feminist spectator as Critic (1988) by Jill Dolan and in Theatre and Feminism (1988) by Sue-Ellen Case. These two methods complement each and at the same time show us where developments take a different route. When coming to a performance strategy, we can learn from both methods of analysis; both the one based in sociology and the one in theatre and performance practice. Over the course of history, they have interlinked and influenced each other. Socio-political change has always been reflected in theatre practice and vice versa, performance practice has also been at the forefront of political change and activism. At times there is only little difference between feminism as a political and as an artistic practice. Combining both will create insight into developments in the course of feminist history and theatre practice accordingly. Starting from the second wave of feminism, the first chapter will analyse the conflicting agendas and newly acquired insights causing segregation into different feminist movements and currents that eventually translated into a third wave of feminism. It will end with an attempt to grasp the zeitgeist of the current fourth wave of feminism. But this must be done with caution. Can we say that a fourth wave of feminism has already sprung from a

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critique of the principal ideas of third wave feminism? And how do these concepts find their way into theatre practice? This will be the starting point for the rest of the thesis. The second part of this thesis, consisting of three chapters, will delve deeper into the individual theoretical concepts that emerged from the third wave of feminism, focussing on intersectionality, body politics and gender construction. It will explore how some of these specific lines of thought have manifested in performances that were recently shown in the Netherlands. Taking the historical developments towards contemporary feminism as a starting point I will thus create a framework through which to analyse how these working concepts that come from contemporary feminism manifest in a number of current performances. What these performances have in common is that to me they all testify to this feminist zeitgeist, that I will explicate further on, in the first chapter. In chapter two, an attempt will be made to use intersectionality for critical inquiry into the mixture of two genres: Hip hop and opera in the performance We shall not be moved [2018].4 In what ways can meaning be drawn from the creational process of a performance? In this performance multiple layers of social injustice are exposed, throughout the storyline and in the various characters, but also in the combining of two different genres; hip-hop and opera. Feminist thinking in this case is both present in what we see on stage, but also in the creation process and in the extensive context programming around the performance. In the following chapter, the performance Cock… Cock… Who’s there? [2017]5 by Samira Elagoz is used as a case study. The influence of feminism is clearly visible in her performance strategies, for example in her use of sharing groups to overcome the trauma of rape, and using biographical material as a starting point for a lecture like performance. Through her use of film, she reclaims control over the male gaze, exposing patriarchal prejudice with regards to the representation of women and female sexuality. Finally, in the fourth chapter, androgyny in the character Hamlet in Hamlet vs. Hamlet [2014]6 will serve as the main focal point of analysis. The chapter will investigate how this gender swap testifies to a feminist zeitgeist, based on the history of gender swapping in repertoire theatre, while at the same time critically questioning the motives that underlie this

4 Created by: Opera Philadelphia. We shall not be moved. Viewed on 15-03-2018 at Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam, as part of the Opera Forward Festival. http://operaforwardfestival.nl/programma/we- shall-not-be-moved/ Last visited on 05-06-2018. Web. 5 Created by: Samira Elagoz. Cock…Cock…Who’s there?. Viewed on 26-10-2017 at Theater Bellevue Amsterdam. http://www.samiraelagoz.com/cock-cock-whos-there/ Last visited on 05-06-2018. Web. 6 Created by: Toneelgroep Amsterdam & Toneelhuis. Hamlet vs. Hamlet. Viewed in march 2014 at De Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam. http://www.samiraelagoz.com/cock-cock-whos-there/ Last visited on 05-06-2018. Web.https://tga.nl/voorstellingen/hamlet-vs-hamlet

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gender swap in this particular performance. The manufacturability of gender as a trait of third wave feminism will take centre stage here. In order to understand feminism today, we need to understand the choices that were made in previous movements and the inadequacies and criticism that led to these sometimes radical shifts in feminist perspectives. We then learn that thinking about feminism has been different in the past, and that it can change in the future. What motivates these makers to make exactly this performance at this given moment in time? If one can understand that, as a dramaturg, one can help improve the language of performance, so that it conveys more exact what the makers want to communicate to the audience. You can control how meaning is transferred through the language of the performance more accurately if you can conduct the right dialogue with the creators of this performance.

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CHAPTER 1 History of Feminism – from a sociological and performance theory perspective Throughout the history of humankind women have suffered repression in many different ways. This chapter will give an analysis of feminism, starting from the second wave of feminism, from about 1960, ending its analysis in the present day, somewhere in 2018, with a specific focus on those moments where conflicts within the movement led to a newly added discourse on feminism. The struggle for emancipation and a call for political action characterized the second wave. Then out of a critique of the inadequacies of the second wave later sprung the third wave of feminism, in which a new discourse or paradigm rose for framing and understanding gender relations. The goal of this new feminist wave was to make feminism more diverse and inclusive.7 Whether or not we are already in the midst of a fourth wave of feminism will then later be discussed. What follows is an attempt to draw up an intermediate position: where do we stand now with regards to the mainstream feminist agenda’s and what are the main issues the different feminisms today are facing? Throughout this first chapter the connections between feminism, theatre and performance theory will be made. For my historical analysis I will mostly draw from the article “The decentering of Second Wave Feminism and the Rise of the Third Wave” (2005) written by Susan Archer Mann and Douglas J. Huffman. They describe extensively the transition from the second wave toward the third wave of feminism. Developments and segregations into different movements often stem from inadequacies in the main ideological current. In the article they indicate how historical developments in social movements like feminism oftentimes follow from conflicting political agendas and set priorities. When relating feminism to performance art, a lot of the information can be traced down to Feminism and Theatre by Sue-Ellen Case (1988). This book is generally regarded as an iconic work in telling the story of feminist performance theory and criticism, both from a historical perspective and incorporating concrete examples from various performance practices. Throughout this chapter I will draw knowledge from scholarly work produced within sociology and gender studies as well as performance studies.

7 Archer Mann & Huffman 2005, p. 57.

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§ 1.1 Strategies for analysing feminism

§ 1.1.1 Analysing Feminism socio-historically – The wave analogy In general, in describing feminist movements in the nineteenth and twentieth century, it is common to find the metaphor of the wave. During the first wave (from about 1880 until about 1920) women successfully fought for women’s suffrage, the right to education and a better legal status for women in family law, like ownerships rights. During the second wave (from about 1950 until 1990) the focus came to lie more on legal equality, birth control, analysis of sexism and patriarchy and around questions about how gender difference structures society and upholds power structures. Around the start of the new millennium a new wave of feminism has developed, focussing more on the inadequacies of the second wave, elaborating more on how women are different from each other and how this should effect the cause and consequential political actions. Over the past there has been critique on the analogy of the wave in describing distinctive chapters in feminist history. To determine that there is a wave requires a form of mass mobilization, but when does a crowd count as a mass, on whose authority? When talking about the waves in feminism, it must be emphasized that this is a western Eurocentric way of historically analysing feminist movements. Also, there is an obscure homogeneity in place with regards to each wave. Where does the wave end? What movements are part of the wave and what movements fall outside of its grid? During each wave in time there were many different feminist movements active, some had more impact on society then others, some operated on a smaller or larger scale, some were more visible or less visible, and there is not necessarily a causality between the above mentioned criteria. In a way it forces one to see many different movements that happened at the same time through a narrow lens. It obscures activism and change that did not fit in that particular wave, for example because it involved a smaller scale protest or it involved activism that took place in between the different waves. However, since it has historically been described as such, and the analogy of the wave remains to be dominant in feminist discourse in describing mass feminist movements, this thesis will hold onto its use, addressing those critiques when necessary.

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§ 1.1.2 Analysis through performance theory Over the course of history, we can also find different feminisms present in the arts, both reflecting on and shaping the feminist movements. Within feminist performance theory a distinction can be made between different ideological currents within feminist movements; namely radical, liberal and materialist feminism. They represent different distinct feminist positions and a different focus on theatre practice accordingly. This helps in relating concrete feminist theatre practices to different feminist standpoints. A central question was about the distinction between those interested in ‘women in theatre’ and those interested in ‘feminism and theatre’.8 The first one focussing on (the position of) women in theatre institutions, for example in the division of labour, the latter focussing on feminist politics in theatre practice. The main positions will be briefly highlighted here.

Liberal Feminism Liberal Feminism, as Jill Dolan wrote in The Feminist Spectator as Critic, is “radically individualistic. It relies on values claimed to be universally human, and in essence, it demands that everyone should receive equal consideration with no discrimination based on sex.”9 Their fight for equality between men and women took place within the dominant socio-economic structures. In the context of theatre and the art world, this means seeking a broader representation of women in art institutions, art history and scholarship, better pay for women’s labour in theatre and a better recognition of women in roles traditionally occupied by men, such as the director, the playwright, the technician. For example, Mieke Kolk wrote about women’s theatre in the Netherlands in the seventies and eighties in her book Hoe vrouwen op het toneel uit hun gestolde vormen vloeien [1987]. Here she described how on the one hand, feminist art is also art,10 and that it should adhere to the same demands and expectations that the medium requires and art that is not explicitly made by women should also adhere to, testifying to liberal feminist thought. However, in practice, most of the feminist theatre in those days stemmed from activism and a sense of readiness to combat inequality, roughly leading towards two currents in feminist theatre: On the one hand there was the political feminist realism, demanding examples of strong women, from the past and the present to be shown on stage in the institutions. Positive inspiration and identification for women in the audience was the main goal of this more liberal feminist current in feminist

8 Case 1988, p. 63. 9 Dolan 1988, p. 3. 10 Kolk 1987, p. 12.

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theatre practice. On the other side, a different genre developed in reaction to this predictable positive message that was offered space in the established theatre houses: a more radical group of women, using their own female creativity and woman’s culture, bringing their stories based on personal lived experience. This also paved the way for what Kolk called ‘positive amateurism’. Here women who were denied the chance to develop their stagecraft to a level of perceived professionality in the schools, found their own different way towards the stage, often making use of improvisations and biographical material. This would attest more to radical feminism, the next of these ideological currents we can distinguish.

Radical Feminism In the study Feminism and Theatre (1988) Sue Ellen Case defines radical feminism as distinguished by an emphasis on patriarchy. “Radical feminism is based on the belief that the patriarchy is the primary cause of the oppression of women.[…] The patriarchy represents all systems of male dominance and is regarded as the root of most social problems.”11 Consequently, radical feminism, separating itself from the culture of men, produced categories of analysis and practice based on women’s culture. Gender distinctions are an essential part of radical feminism, with a focus on identifying male-gender oppressions and female-gender strengths. Focus in radical feminist performance studies would be exclusively on the experiences, forms and practices of women, with the single task of providing women with a voice of their own.12 This also lead to an upswing of lesbian theatre. In the eyes of some radical feminists, heterosexuality was part of patriarchy, for it forces women to compete with each other for men and therefor separates women from each other. Lesbianism empowers the movement through independence from patriarchal structures (like legal and economic dependencies on marriage). “Feminism is the theory, Lesbianism is the practice” was a slogan attributed to Ti-Grace Atkinson.13 This lead to a separatist movement within theatre: In the United States, several lesbian theatres were founded in the 1970’s; theatre organised by and specifically for lesbians. In the Netherlands, there were also performances organised specifically around women’s culture; performance exclusively made by and for women. For example, by the theatre-working-group Proloog [1977]. They created performances for which they exclusively invited women, addressing topics like marriage, the

11 Case 1988, p. 64. 12 Ibid. 65. 13 Ibid. 76.

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labour market and unwanted pregnancies.14 The main focus lay on a critique on patriarchy and that being a binding factor for women to unite and stand together in solidarity.

Materialist Feminism A third category drawn by Sue Ellen Case is termed ‘Materialist feminism’, which is rooted in Marxist and socialist feminism. According to Case materialist feminism focuses on the collective status of groups, but not necessarily within the category of ‘woman’.

“The materialist position underscores the role of class and history in creating oppressions of women. […] Derived from Marxism, materialist feminism posits that class determines the situation of all people within capitalism.”15

Class is a social structure in which the owners of the means of production within a society hold privilege over the (oppressed) workers. The gender oppression of women is based on a class analysis of exploitation. Women have been paid lower wages and have had less access to upward mobility. Labour in the domestic sphere is unpaid work. According to materialist feminists, not all experiences of women are the same. There is a difference in the lived experience of working-class, middle-class and upper-class women. Women are not all sisters. Women of the upper-class can oppress women of the working-class. In performance analysis and theatre practice, materialist feminism focuses on exposing the ideological nature of all cultural products, because “through cultural production the ideas of the ruling class become normative for the culture at large.”16 Through cultural production, the ideology of the ruling class (men in patriarchy) becomes the norm for that society. This ideology can contain a bias hierarchy in gender norms, but it can also focus on more differentiated aspects of cultural production, like class, race, education or language. Therefore, materialist feminism takes on a broader scope on feminist politics then for example liberal and radical feminism do. The influence of materialist feminism has opened up new areas of investigating social injustice through a feminist lens. Adding class-consciousness was a big step towards broadening the critical inquiry into patriarchal structures. In a broader sense, materialist feminism “attempts to denaturalize the dominant ideology that demands and maintains

14 A link to the program of the performance, containing a summary and explicit invite for the focus group of the performance: Women. https://www.vrouwennuvoorlater.nl/toneelwerkgroep/ Last visited on 07-06-2018. Web. 15 Case 1988, p. 82. 16 Dolan 1988, p. 15.

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oppressive social arrangements.”17 In the context of western societies, material feminism made visible the predominance of upper-class white women in the feminist movement and the relatively low visibility of poor women and women of colour.18 This created a dialogue of difference within the movement, and through this, it might have laid the foundations for what eventually led to intersectional theory.

§ 1.2 Second wave feminism Generally, the second wave started from the 1960’s and lasted until the late 1980’s. The second wave of feminism is a Western centred concept, that was mostly focussed on a notion of a unitary category of ‘woman’ as having common or essential experiences.19 The struggle of the first wave focussed mostly on the right to vote and the right to schooling and participation in the labour market. The struggle of the second wave expanded the debate on inequality between men and women on issues like sexuality, family and reproductive rights. It was still a struggle existing mostly within the discourse of the binary gender norms. The starting point that united women was that firstly, inequalities based on one’s sex were not natural, but cultural (not biologically determined, but gender based), secondly that they could be changed and thirdly that they should be changed. Women should stand united in their struggle. It was a critique of how gender difference structured society and how patriarchy dominated societal structures. There were marches for women’s right to birth control and abortion, protest marches against sexism and patriarchy and against the gender bias evoked by heteronormativity. Simone de Beauvoir laid the foundations for this struggle in her book The Second Sex (1948) in which she introduces the notion that one isn’t born a woman, one becomes a woman, and that womanhood is acquired by socialisation, instead of it being biologically determined. To change the position of women, society had to change. By the end of the second wave this essentialist view on ‘womanhood’ was called into question and the focus came to lie more on difference instead of commonality between women. Development in feminist theory over the past several decades might be seen as a development towards increasingly strong forms of constructionism, and the rejection of stable sex or gender roles that were still in place at the time of the second wave feminist movement.

17 Dolan, 1988, p. 6. 18 Case 1988, p. 84. 19 Archer Mann & Huffman 2005, p. 62.

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1.2.1 Key concepts for second wave feminism Through the emergence of some of the key concepts used in the second wave, feminism can be further analysed. These concepts earned their place in several encyclopaedias and feminist readers, contributing to a growing discourse of feminist scholarly work.

The Sex/Gender distinction Starting from the 1970’s feminist scholars started using the terms sex and gender to explain and counter the inequalities between men and women in society.20 The distinction between sex and gender originated within the field of sociology: Sex being used to describe biological differences between men and women and gender being used to describe cultural differences to classify into masculine and feminine. However, it must be noted that these distinctions in terms of gender were also used to give cultural meaning to the differences between the biological sexes, again essentialising the sexes. In these developments we do see a shift in thinking about sex as something that is biologically determined toward thinking about sex as something that is socially constructed, resulting in the further development of the concept of gender. Already then [West, Zimmerman 1987] it was said that gender was something that was done, acted out by an individual, within society and for societal approval.

In one sense, of course, it is individuals who "do" gender. But it is a situated doing, carried out in the virtual or real presence of others who are presumed to be oriented to its production. Rather than as a property of individuals, we conceive of gender as an emergent feature of social situations: both as an outcome of and a rationale for various social arrangements and as a means of legitimating one of the most fundamental divisions of society.21 (My emphasis added)

Gender was seen as both an outcome of and as a rationale for social arrangements. This way, the construction of gender maintains itself. It is both the outcome of certain societal expectations, as well as fundamental to the construction of this societal division. The display of gendered behaviour is the outcome as well as the origin of a societal division in the binary sex categories of male and female. In order to fight this binary distinction within society, as was deemed necessary within feminism, instead of looking at the biological differences between men and women, suddenly it was apparent that one had to look critically at the

20 West & Zimmerman 1987, p. 125. 21 Ibid. 126.

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cultural distinction between what was seen as masculine and feminine and combat normative thinking in that area. This new insight, leading from biological determinism towards social constructivism, was one of the mayor insights within the discourse of second wave feminism. If categories of masculinity and femininity are not fixed, and if these criteria are socially constructed, that means they can be altered. Suddenly the question of agency was more relevant then ever and this fuelled the belief that change was possible in the fight against cultural oppression of women. Examples can be found in the drag art scene, in which drag kings and queens play with the notion of an original gender. 22

The personal is political In the United States a big part of the feminist movements of the seventies was about making the personal political. Up until the second wave of feminism, politics was regarded as belonging to the public domain, which used to belong to men. (As opposed to the private domain, to which women were traditionally allocated.) The hegemonic way of thinking was the notion that there is the public sphere, where politics happened and there is the ‘private sphere’, that consist of love and intimacy and privacy that is not political. Within society, this division was also visible in who controlled material resources and in what counted as labour. The work of men in the public sphere counted as labour and was rewarded compensation, whereas the labour of women within the households was not regarded as work in any sense, but maybe in that of the production of children. Think about how labour for women is associated with the birthing of a child. In 1968 Carol Hanisch is said to have coined the slogan: “The Personal is Political.”23 This meant that any choice you made in your personal life could also be seen as a political choice. The role patterns within the family life, who does the dishes and how people make love to each other becomes about societal structures. “The personal is political” became a well-known slogan within the feminist movement. Everything is personal, and everything is political. Consequence of politicizing the personal sphere, was that women started meeting each other in their homes, to explore the political aspects of their personal lives in “consciousness-raising-groups.”24 The role these groups played in the emancipation of women was at that moment crucial. Women grew an identity, independent of their husbands. The idea of what power is, and how it was exercised was now discussed

22 A contemporary example of this is the New York based artist Taylor Mac. http://www.taylormac.org/work/ Last visited on 07-06-2018. Web. 23 Man Ling Lee 2007, p. 164. 24 Ibid. 165.

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among women. Women were challenging each other intellectually through discussing politics and in feminist reading groups. The idea of women as a ‘second sex’ was critically reviewed. Also, these meetings provided therapeutic relief in sharing their experiences.25 Personal problems are political problems and this idea of consciousness raising spoke to the idea that there are personal problems, but there are no personal solutions. There is only collective action for a collective solution. Personal issues are societal issues and they needed to be addressed at a collective level. More elaborate reflections about the relationship between personal storytelling and artistic practice will follow in the upcoming paragraphs. Using sharing groups as well as incorporating biographical material as a strategy for consciousness raising has been used extensively as a performance strategy over the course of history. As we will see in chapter three, it is still a very effective artistic strategy today. In the case study of Cock… Cock… Who’s there? by Samira Elagoz, we will come back to an example of how sharing as a performance strategy can raise personal issues to the level of societal issues. Firstly, through sharing amongst women of three different generations, secondly through both the use of documentary theatre and lecturing as a form for transferring a message towards an audience and finally, in reclaiming the representation of her sexualised female body from patriarchal colonisation, through her handling of the camera.

Patriarchy In 1969 Kate Millet wrote the book Sexual Politics in which she reflects on the consequences of politicizing the personal sphere for women’s sexuality. She defines politics as follows: “The term politics shall refer to power-structured relations, arrangements whereby one group of persons is controlled by another.”26 In her book Millet refers to the term ‘patriarchy’ as a key concept in understanding sexual politics. At that time, racism was a political issue high on the agenda. The political relation between races was one that involved the general control of one collective, defined by birth, over another collective, also defined by birth.27 Millet compares this scheme to the area of sex as another example of one group ruling another, both groups defined by birth right. The study of racism had already resulted in the visibility of oppressive circumstances that this political scheme perpetuates. “Quite in the same manner, a disinterested examination of our system of sexual relationship must point out that the situation between the sexes now, and throughout history, is a case of that phenomenon Max Weber

25 Man Ling Lee 2007, p. 165 26 Millet 1970, p. 23. 27 Ibid. 24

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defined as ‘Herrschaft’: a relationship of dominance and subordinance.”28 Herrschaft literally means dominance, or subordination. The birth right control of one group by another: in Millets view: the male to rule and the female to be ruled. In her book Sexual Politics Millet refers to the term Patriarchy as a key concept in understanding sexual politics. She uses the term to look critically at what power is and how and where it is exercised. The essence of politics is power and at the time she provided insight in how the society was structured as a patriarchy: all essential lines of power, the military, universities, science, political office, ea. were all entirely in male hands. One half of the population dominated the other half. The ideology of patriarchy is internalized and that is how patriarchy is conserved. “Sexual politics obtains consent through the “socialization” of both sexes to basic patriarchal polities with regard to temperament, role, and status. As to status, a pervasive assent to the prejudice of male superiority guarantees superior status in the male, inferior in the female.”29 Patriarchy works amongst others on the levels of ideology, biology, sociology, class, education, on a psychological level and on the levels of myth and religion, all extensively described in the first chapter of her book. According to Millet, on all these levels the lives of women are in various ways restrained and women positioned as less than men. Summarizing what was said in the previous three paragraphs, the distinction between sex and gender translated into a legitimation for differentiating between men and women. Thinking through how men and women differ from each other and what attributes (whether they are socially constructed or not) constitute male and/or female, only emphasised and explained this division into binary gender categories. Through patriarchal structures – a system built on dominance and subordinance – this expressed itself into the division into a public and a private domain, where men controlled material resources and labour production and allocated women to the private sphere. This inequality also leaped through in the theatre performances that pursued a form of realism on the stage, for example familial dramas or historical plays. And of course these developments evoked a counter-reaction of more progressive theatre, that was less illustrative. Breaking with the illusion of reality was seen as an important strategy in order to expose the social constructions underlying society, like for example Brechtian theatre did through the alienation effect.

28 Millet 1970, p. 25. 29 Ibid. 26.

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Sisterhood (and its limitations) Again, as typical for the second wave, the struggle against patriarchy was viewed as something that could unite women. A common enemy that would bring solidarity to the movement and it did. However, not all women could identify as a ‘sister’ in this sisterhood of white middle-class feminists who were at the forefront of the movement. For example; women of colour, of different ethnic backgrounds, women who didn’t fit the heteronormative matrix, trans women often did not feel part of the same sisterhood. “Sisterhood is generally understood as a nurturant, supportive feeling of attachment and loyalty to other women that grows out of a shared experience of oppression.”30 It is these commonalities of personal experience of oppression that differs for different groups of women. Sisterhood served as a means for mobilizing women to undertake political and economic action based on shared needs. However, this limits the understanding of racial and class differences among women. This critique on the second wave was part of the counter-movement that later became a major part of the third wave. Obviously, there is not enough space here to do justice to the rich variety of movements, theories and practices that came from the second wave of feminism. The concepts presented here have a link to the critique of the second wave that the third wave sprung from and that still has a profound effect on how feminism is viewed today. They laid out the foundations for the working concepts that will form the foundation for the second part of this thesis. These critiques that have shaped a following wave have also been shaped through artistic practice: In the kinds of plays that were written, in the division of labour within the theatre institutions and in the representation of gender on stage for example. Again, both art and activism have a mutual effect on each other when it comes to developing and sharpening political agendas and articulating criticism.

§ 1.2.2 Feminist practice: The personal became aesthetic Historically, because women were oftentimes and in many ways denied access to the public domain, their performance space of choice was usually not situated in the public arena, but in the private domain, as in the case of the culture of salon performances in the 19th century. The focus of the feminist theatre practice was rooted in personal dialogue and in everyday life, rather than in a mimetic dialogue aimed at lasting repetition.31 This means that there was a lively theatre scene of biographical and at times improvised performances, playing out in the

30 Thornton Dill 1994, p. 43. 31 Case 1988, p. 46.

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margins and outside of the institutions, where realism and forth wall based theatre was still very much the norm. These feminist performances were created and shaped with partners, rather than by an absent author. An elimination of formal distance characterizes the work of female theatre makers, as well as dialogue built on mutuality and intersubjectivity.32 This is reflected for example in salon performances (around 1800) in which social and the political life came together. Topics were fathomed through improvisation and play. A Theatre without assumed characters. The personal thus became aesthetic.33 Mostly, women’s’ theatre – that is, theatre created and performed by women – played out in the margins of society. Standing disconnected from the canonical works, women’s theatre was more related to the domestic, social service-sphere that they were confined to.

Sharing as a performance strategy The previously addressed consciousness-raising groups also provided the first steps toward a feminist theatre practice based on celebrating the voices of women in public performances, without questioning their condition, class or colour. I already briefly mentioned theatre- working-group Proloog, but there were others who united in theatre working groups to create theatre for and with women. In the Anglo-Saxon context feminist theatre groups like It’s All Right to be Woman Theatre – founded in 1970 – also used their theatre space to validate the experience of the category ‘called woman’.34 Consciousness-raising techniques were used in combination with acting. The productions became a sort of public group experience, with women sharing their experience in front of an audience. This public exposure made the performances often an intense and intimate experience, lacking aesthetic distance and breaking with the traditional concept of the ‘fourth wall’. “This produced a new dramaturgical dynamic that matched the feminist sense that the personal is political.”35 There was a personal connection to the work and there were political consequences at stake in making and attending these performances. Another famous example of where artistic practice met feminist activism is the ritualistic burning of bras, a performative act of women, reclaiming their female bodies from sexualised patriarchal culture. This is representative for the creativity that was present throughout all feminist struggles during all the waves in feminism.

32 Case 1988, p. 46. 33 Ibid. 48. 34 Ibid. 65. 35 Ibid. 65.

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Performance art A new more radical genre that also emerged from a critique to the limitations of women in theatre and performance practice was performance art. Women perform within the parameters of their own unique experience, with a central focus on their bodies, creating an aesthetic experience that involves both performer and spectator. Performance art started around the 1960’s and took flight during the 1970’s.

Performance art takes place outside the dominant tradition of stages, characters, plots, written texts and even audiences. Women performance artists choose personal sites for their performances, often without audiences. They explore new relationships to their own bodies and voices in performance and they develop new kinds of plays.36

It involved installations and performances that drew on personal experiences of women, giving them the opportunity to voice and express their beliefs as women. It was often based on challenging the notion of gender, on a plea for sexual liberation or a critique on the (re)presentation of the (sexualised) female body in public space. What was seen as ‘natural’, as typical attributes for the female gender, was contested and made controversial in sometimes violent performances. Famous among these first female performance artists were Judy Chicago (The Dinner Party (1979)37 and Menstruation Bathroom (1972)38) Carolee Schneeman (Interior Scroll (1975)39) and Marina Abramovic. According to Erin Striff [1997], who wrote an article about the practice of feminist performance art; “Feminist performance artists attempt to disrupt the cultural associations with the female body. They extend their bodily capabilities […]; they practice body modification; and they enact the abjection of the female body.”40 To understand the way these bodies were perceived during the time they were performed related to concepts like fetishizing, the grotesque, abjection and sexual liberation, one has to go back to the social and cultural climate of the time in which the work was performed. Still today the female body is present within performance art practice, however it is no longer only confined to the margins. For example, on the tenth of January 2018, I’ve witnessed the performance Apollon Musagète

36 Case 1988, p. 56. 37 https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/genesis/ Last visited on 18-05-2018. Web. 38 https://dome.mit.edu/handle/1721.3/2403 Last visited on 18-05-2018. Web. 39 https://fineartmultiple.com/blog/carolee-schneemann-interior-scroll-masterpiece/ Last visited on 18- 05-2018. Web. 40 Striff 1997, p. 1.

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by Florentina Holzinger as it was performed at the main hall of Theater Rotterdam, a theatre that can hold almost nine hundred people. In this performance, patriarchy is held under scrutiny.41 The performance is inspired by a type of carnivalesque freak show in which one of the performers places her body under physical duress, thereby criticizing the male dominant gaze over the female body. Masochism and passivity are two strategies that are used to analyse female suffering in a society dominated by men. Also the level of shock and controversy involved in these performances, for example surrounding nudity of the female body, has changed over the last five decades, however as an art form, performance art is still very much alive and some of the same motives from the past (for example, the violence in the representation of the sexualised female body in Apollon Musagète (2018) still appear in contemporary practice.42 Both performance art and performances based on consciousness-raising strategies were rooted in radical feminism, focusing on a distinguished women culture. For comparison, a liberal feminist approach of historical analysis could, for example, focus on the role of – and advocate for more – women playwrights in the theatre practice and critically analyse the division of labour in the established theatre institutions. A more materialistic feminist approach would maybe expand the research to representations of gender oppression on stage, focussing among other things on socio-economic oppressions, based on class and skin colour.

§ 1.3 Third wave feminism What was the start of third wave feminism? When was the unitary category of ‘woman’ called into question? When did post-Colonial discourse enter the feminist discourse? When did the focus come to rely more on deconstructing normative ideas of gender? Did it start when feminists reclaimed their femininity in a reaction against the sober, hair-under-armpit- feminism that was part of the second wave? It was all of the above and more. First we look at how the third wave formed in reaction to the second wave and then we look at the different movements and new theoretical discourse this resulted in. Here we see a struggle within the feminist movements between on the one hand an effort to retain collective categories, while at the same time avoiding essentialism.

41 Van der Putt 2017, Theaterkrant. (2017). https://www.theaterkrant.nl/recensie/apollon- musagete/campo-florentina-holzinger/ Last visited on 23-05-2018. Web. 42 A review of the performance can be found here: https://www.theaterkrant.nl/recensie/apollon- musagete/campo-florentina-holzinger/ Last visited on 07-06-2018.

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§ 1.3.1 Difference-thinking in reaction to the second wave’s unification. How and when the third wave came to be is in many ways contested. Whether it came after the second wave, or was formed out of a critique of the second wave is not fully agreed upon. In their article (2005), Archer Mann and Huffman argue that “the initial challenges to second wave feminism shared a focus on difference, but resulted in two opposing political camps: one that embraced identity politics as the key to liberation; and a second that saw freedom in resistance to identity”.43 This led to an essential divide in mainstream feminist discourse. Amongst other movements, the first camp led to a postcolonial feminist discourse and the development of intersectional theory in an attempt to grasp and theorize the multiple, simultaneous oppressions feminists of colour were experiencing. Exposing the complex web of politics that is in play would be the key to feminist liberation. Through finding different multiple oppressive societal structures to oppose, and recognising these oppressions were simultaneous, inseparable, interlocking and non-hierarchical, women (specifically of colour and of lower class) could unite. From this stance intersectional theory was developed. The other camp upheld a different line of argumentation in reaction to the second wave: that of resisting all forms of identity politics and questioning the notion of coherent identities itself. This is a postmodernist, poststructuralist approach: “The latter is exemplified by postmodernist and poststructuralist feminists who viewed freedom as resistance to categorization or identity.”44 Consequential to this line of thinking among other things, queer theory and critical thinking with regards to gender norms was developed.

§ 1.3.2 What this resulted in: Intersectionality One of the key words that distinguishes third wave feminism is the concept of intersectionality. One of the major critiques of the second wave feminist movement was the essentialist view on womanhood or the “essentialist woman”.45 There was an emphasis on what united women under the false pretence of womanhood, resulting in a blind spot regarding the discriminative differences between women active in the second wave. It was not possible to have a unitary single voice or vision representing the heterogeneous experiences of all women. Was there no attention to differences within the feminist movements during the second wave? Were race and class not at all of feminist interest until the 1980’s? Here a legitimate critique of the wave analogy would be in place. During the 1960’s and 1970’s in

43 Archer Mann & Huffman 2005, p. 58. 44 Ibid. 58. 45 Ibid. 59.

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some places and forms race and class were part of the political feminist agenda, but it was not a part of the mass movements in feminism within the second wave.46 There was some attention paid to it, however it was deemed of greater importance for women to unite under an “all-inclusive-sisterhood”47, as was explained in a previous paragraph(s). Towards the end of the second wave, from the notion of conflicting interests and priorities within feminist movements, identity politics took a more prominent place on the feminist agenda. The following definition by Linda Alcoff is used here for describing identity politics: “The idea here is that one’s identity is taken (and defined) as a political point of departure, as a motivation for action, and as a delineation of one’s politics.”48 The negative potential with identity politics is that, on the one hand it presupposes one’s political agenda, based on one’s identity and on the other that it places boundaries on political participation or involvement in the form of a group membership based on your identity. These risks linked to identity politics remain in place until this very day. It not only had its consequences in the way political action was organised from then on, but also in the way feminism was henceforth theorised. This shift from distinguishing feminist perspectives in terms of politics towards assigning them based on individual identity is again misleading and a form of essentializing. In 1989 Kimberlé Crenshaw introduced the term ‘intersectionality’.49 Crenshaw was a human rights advocate and scholar. The term originated in Critical Law studies to solve a legal problem. Although Crenshaw introduced the term, there was already a field of black feminist thought that build up the perspective that became ‘intersectionality’. Later, during the nineties, this theory was developed by scholars such as Patricia Hill Collins around a key concept called intersectionality, a theory that revolved around multiple and simultaneous oppressions.50 “Intersectionality is a social constructivist view that links identities, standpoints and social locations in a matrix of domination.”51 It is not focussed on one aspect of one’s identity, but it centres around the idea that there are many different aspects that form ones identity and that all those aspects, or qualities together form a web of power relations. The core insight of intersectionality is: “that major axes of social divisions in a given society at a given time, for example race, class, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, and age operate not as

46 Archer Mann & Huffman 2005, p. 60. 47 Thornton Dill 1994, p. 42 48 Alcoff 1988, p. 412. 49 Yuval-Davis 2006, p. 193 50 Archer Mann & Huffman 2005, p. 61. 51 Ibid. 62.

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discrete and mutually exclusive entities, but build on each other and work together.”52 Intersectionality looks at the relations between those social divisions that one’s identity exists of, and links this to the various (structural) power relations present in the world at large, as opposed to having a singular view on the identity of an individual and dealing with unambiguous categories of social oppressions in the world. According to some the development of intersectional theory was a distinctive feature that separated the third from the second wave of feminism. There is something to be said for this point of view. The second wave feminism was largely based on rejecting oppositional thinking within the movement in order to stand united as women, where the third wave focussed more on deconstructing group-categorical thinking, focussing more on how different social groups and their struggles intersected. Chapter two will zoom in on intersectionality as a theoretical framework and tool for analysis and an attempt will be made to apply it as a tool for performance analysis, using the case study of of the Hip Hop-opera We shall not be Moved, created by Opera Philadelphia (2017). We will see how intersectional thinking is present throughout the creational process of the performance and how it shaped both the content of the performance in terms of characters and storyline, but also the form, in the sense of combining two genres, namely hip-hop and opera.

§ 1.3.3 The poststructuralist-turn As was said before, within the third wave the unitary notion of ‘woman’ was questioned through identity politics. However, with the rise of identity politics and intersectionality also came the critique against concepts like race, ethnicity, class, gender and sexual orientation as being unitary categories. The feminists following the postmodernist turn, pivoted from identity politics to its total opposite: a politics based on non-identity and a resistance against all forms of labelling and categorizing of women. It was a movement against all forms of binary thinking.

The central idea is that identity is simply a construct of language, discourse and cultural practices. The goal is to dismantle these fictions and, thereby, to undermine hegemonic regimes of discourse. To affirm identities, as identity politics does, merely reproduces and sustains dominant discourses and regulatory power.53

52 Collins & Bilge 2016, p. 4. 53 Foucault 1984, quoted in Archer Mann & Huffman. 2005, p. 63.

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This consequently led to the idea that identities can be multiple, fluid and unstable, which created other possibilities for investigating and theorizing power relations and social differences.54 In a way one can say that both intersectionality and poststructuralist feminism use ‘difference’ as a starting point to question the dominant feminist discourse of the second wave and both depart from the conviction that all forms of knowledge are socially constructed and socially situated. However, the poststructuralist feminists, like Butler, Case, Doland et al. in the wake of a Foucauldian analysis rejected any form of categorization or homogeneity in experiences and identities of women.

Performativity Already in the second wave, the distinction between sex and gender was formulated, resulting in a shift from biological determinism toward social constructivism. Judith Butler continued to theorize gender and wrote perhaps the most influential book about gender theory: Gender Trouble [1990]. However, Butler first published her ground-breaking work in a journal for theatre and performance theories. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution” [1988] was published in The Theatre Journal. Here she introduces the concept of performativity, linked to gender construction. Foucault’s idea that identity is a construct of language, discourse and cultural practices is something that Judith Butler incorporated in her theory on performativity. Central in her theory on gender and performativity is the exposing of gender as a social construct. There is no original gender, but the construction of gender is implemented through a “stylized repetition of acts”.55 What Butler did with her theory, was deconstructing the notion of woman, creating a non-binary form of living gender. Chapter four will contain a more in depth analysis of Butler’s theory on performativity.

§ 1.4 Fourth wave? Elizabeth Kelly, author of the article “Review Essay: A New Generation of Feminism? Reflections on the Third Wave” [2005] endorses the idea that the third wave sprung from a rebelling against the second wave. She writes: “Young feminist scholars of the third generation generally define themselves as outside or against the academy; differentiating the Third Wave from, and often sharply rejecting, the work of the second wave. This literature – frequently autobiographical, self-consciously “theoretical,” and diverse- forwards an argument for feminism based on an interesting, if somewhat odd, combination of anarchism,

54 Archer Mann & Huffman 2005, p. 63. 55 Butler 1988, p. 519.

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individual empowerment, and generational solidarity (my emphasis added).”56 Third wave feminism has risen out of a revolt against what was. Are we currently living in a new revolt phase, resulting in a fourth wave of feminism? By now, most scholars agree that the wave analogy no longer suffices in analysing contemporary feminist movements. I would say that we are still in the phase of critically revolting against the idea of a unitary category of women that characterized the second wave. However, we might be in a post-third-wave phase, in the sense that already new critiques have formed on the main theory and literature that has been produced early on in the third wave due to the “lack of vibrant energy in academic theory, the anger, the gross generalizations and the historical misrepresentations”.57 Recently women have mass mobilized in different places and forms. There is the #metoo debate, that consequently led to a debate on white washing feminist struggles.58 (#MeToo, was initiated by Tarana Burke, but it only gained widespread support and incited a public debate after the white actress Alyssa Milano coined the hashtag on Twitter.) There are slutwalks organized against rape culture, victim blaming and slut-shaming of young women. All around the world there are women’s marches, protesting against sexism and advocating the protection of women and human rights calling for concrete political action. How can one be a ‘good’ feminist? That is, taking into account all the many inequalities, promoting nuance, and still effectively speak up. Many books have recently been written about this topic, addressing feminism, intersectionality, gender, privilege and the effects these topics have on our everyday lives.59 How do we incorporate all these newly acquired insights into our own personal and/or political lives?

§ 1.4.1 Critique of the third wave: divisive, competitive and individualistic What are the major criticisms on the newly developed theoretical concepts of the third wave that are central in this thesis; Intersectionality, gender theory and body politics? The following commentaries shed a light on why it is often hard for contemporary feminist movements to mobilize in broad scale social or political activism.

56 Kelly 2005, p. 234. 57 Ibid. 234. 58 Garcia, Sandra E. “The Woman Who Created #MeToo Long Before Hashtags.” The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/us/me-too-movement-tarana-burke.html Last accessed on 15- 04-2018. 59 Some out of many examples: Bad Feminist: Essays (2014) by Roxane Gay, Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto (2017) by Jessa Crispin, We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl®, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement (2017) by Andi Zeisler.

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“I am a woman; on this truth must be based all further discussion.”60 Simone de Beauvoir wrote this down in her book the second sex in 1949. The book laid the foundation for the second wave and for uniting all women in the fight for social and political equality. The quote selling on a T-shirt today would probably be: ‘I am a young-white-Cis-gender- middle-class-of-Dutch-origin-and-decent-living-in-Amsterdam-with-a-university-degree- woman; on this truth must be based all further discussion.’ Creating awareness on one’s position ultimately leads to more nuance and context in any debate. It emphasises the importance of diversity. However, it can also be interpreted as exclusive and limiting. It suggests that one cannot represent the standpoint or view of a minority, when that is not a part of your identity or lived experience. Productively used in the fight against social injustice, this critique calls for more diversity in discussion panels and public debate. As a drawback, this could lead back to an essentialist notion of identity politics, leaving the voices of some women, who cannot speak out, because they don’t have the means, the resources, the platform, to be unheard, because nobody is allowed to speak for them. It could also lead to hierarchical thinking about minorities and competing feminisms in defining what should be on the agenda. Who is more subordinated? The more categories one falls under, the more right one has to speak. It becomes a race to the bottom competing for space. All these are similar critiques on a type of feminism that is essentialist, divisive and individualist (striving toward individual empowerment) and there for standing in the way of mass mobilization. Everyone is an individual with a unique mix of subordinations. This makes it hard to mobilize women for social or political activism. However, Identity politics have in the past also proven to be a strong basis for community building, based on shared lived experience in the struggle for justice. “One of the Third Wave’s great strengths is the refusal to define identity – or identity politics – in simple or uncomplicated terms.”61 So, individual empowerment yes, but also a systematic analysis and interrogation of structures of power, privilege and oppression characterizes the (post?) third wave of feminism.

§ 1.4.2 Commodification of feminism Consciousness-raising was an important part of second wave feminism. Raising awareness for the feminist agenda nowadays is a popular goal. Famous popstars, like Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, promote feminism and portray themselves as frontiers in contemporary

60 De Beauvoir, Simone. Second Sex. 13. 61 Kelly 2005, p. 236.

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feminism, promoting free sexuality and ‘girlie’ ethic, but at the same time also commercialising feminism in the mainstream media. It is okay to enjoy your physicality, grow confident in your body and strive for self-improvement. In order to call yourself a feminist however, it should be accompanied by a certain awareness of how this relates to the political, economic, ecological and social power relations in our western patriarchal capitalist society. “Without a body of politics, the nail polish is really going to waste.”62 One reason for feminism to become a more low brow, consumerist occupation could be found in the resistance of the ‘always discussing-always looking for more nuance-never satisfied with an answer-highbrow-intellectual feminism. Underlying this commercialisation of feminism could be according to Kelly that “the third wave, […] can only define itself in opposition – and through the display of an anti-intellectualism that mirrors, in a disturbing way, more mainstream cultural discourse and norms.”63 This post-third wave feminist movement might not be generated within the academy, and be rooted more in autobiographical writing and knowledge production with feminist icons not being rooted in the academy, but in popular culture. What is the downside to this commercialisation? Popular culture offers an escape from social injustice, contradictions, conflict and compromise in everyday life. Pop diva’s sell phantasies and most of all, sell their music. There is a paradox to the radical label that Feminism still has while, at the same time, these radical ideas, this radical label, is commodified for profit. The effect of commodification of feminism is that, if you want feminism to be accessible for everyone, it will not accurately represent anyone. It will not bring about fundamental social change, and it does not do justice to the history of feminism and the women’s rights predecessors fought so hard for to be attained. On the one hand, the commercial aim is to make profit, not to critically address social injustice and rework power relations. On the other, within this ethos of the market, one could also celebrate his or her individual empowerment through identity construction. See identity as a commodity. Be something one day and be someone else entirely the next. As long as ‘radical feminism’ sells, why not make use of the momentum and use these endless possibilities of commercial expressions as the start for a proper dialogue? In conclusion, we have seen how historical developments in feminism have sprung from inadequacies and conflict within the mainstream feminist movement. Feminism can be as unifying as it can be divisive. However, new developments are contributing to an ever

62 Baumgardner & Richards 2000, p. 152. 63 Kelly 2005, p. 239.

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broadening discourse on feminism and sexuality studies. So far, combining a sociological perspective with a performance theory perspective had thought us how representation runs like a red thread through feminist theatre practice as well as through activism in society. In the following chapters three core concepts will be further elaborated on; Intersectionality, body politics and gender construction. I will approach these concepts form a dramaturgs perspective as working concepts. An analysis will be made on how they operate throughout the entire process from forming an idea and translating that into a performance.

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CHAPTER 2 Intersectionality – as a condition and an outcome of a production process. The following chapter will go deeper into the the concept of ‘intersectionality’. Firstly, where did the term originate from? What does it exactly entail and how can it be used as an analytical tool in a more general way? In the second part of this chapter an attempt will be made to use intersectionality as working concept to critically engage with the performance We shall not be moved by Opera house Philadelphia (2017). In both the creational process of this performance as well as in the context programming surrounding this performance, an intersectional approach is apparent. Taking intersectionality as a working concept, as a lens through which to analyse the different powers in play, helps to provide more insight into the axes of social division that this performance operates on. Intersectional analysis is a continuing process, a process that is also visible in the performance. It works through the genealogy of the project and throughout the creational process. It is present in the contents of the performance, as well as in the context programming as it is a primary topic in the after talks and lectures given around the performance. This way intersectionality shapes the dramaturgy for this specific performance. The dramaturg often plays a crucial role in the creational process of a performance piece. Analysing the process of creation and the performance context in this case, will help understand how the performance brings across a plaint against social injustice. It is a good example of how this first feminist concept is put into practice.

§ 2.1 What is Intersectionality? The term “intersectionality” became widespread in the early twenty-first century, when the term was taken up by scholars in many different academic disciplines and was used in many intellectual and political projects.64 The term already circulated in black feminist activist circles, but it was coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American civil rights advocate and scholar in critical theory, specializing in race and gender issues. Intersectionality is used as an analytic tool to counteract a single focus lens on social inequality. This is a constant process. As an example, Hill Collins/Bilge use in their book Intersectionality the struggle in the 60’s and 70’s of African-American women activists. Their needs were not met by the feminist movements of the second wave, nor the anti-racist social movements or the unions organizing for workers’ rights, because every one of these movements held one category of social

64 Collins & Bilge 2016, p. 1.

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injustice as a priority over the others. This left the complex social problems that these women of colour faced unresolved. The following definition will be used to describe “intersectionality” from here on:

Intersectionality is a way of understanding and analysing the complexity in the world, in people and in human experiences. The events and conditions of social and political life and the self can seldom be understood as shaped by one factor. They are generally shaped by many factors in diverse and mutually influencing ways. When it comes to social inequality, people’s lives and the organization of power in a given society are better understood as being shaped not by a single axis of social division, be it race or gender or class, but by many axes that work together and influence each other. Intersectionality as an analytic tool gives people better access to the complexity of the world and themselves.65

Note here that it is not about the individual aspects of identity politics and social division, be it race or gender or class, but about how these many different aspects are interlinked, reciprocal and connected to each other in forming power relations in the world. Intersectionality is about confronting different axes of social division at the same time, for example class, race, gender, religion or economic disadvantage.66 This is important, because historically, studies have focussed on how singular aspects or identity traits have been a basis for social injustice. Also today, identity politics tend to single out identity traits, creating a more simplistic image of a divided society. Intersectionality argues for a more complex image of interlinking aspects that explains one’s position in society. According to feminist scholar Nira Yuval Davis Social divisions refer to the way people are distinct from each other, expressed through specific institutions, such as for example the law, state agencies and family. “Social divisions have organizational, intersubjective, experiential and representational forms. […] they involve specific power and affective relationships between actual people, acting informally and/or in their roles as agents of specific social institutions.”67 Understanding social division is important, for it also shapes how people experience social injustice in their daily lives through exclusion and inclusion, discrimination and any specific disadvantages they experience based on their identity. It also exists on the

65 Collins & Bilge 2016, p. 2. 66 Ibid. 4. 67 Yuval-Davis 2006, p. 198.

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level of representation, in how someone is represented and being expressed through images, texts and other media. Characteristic to social division is that it tends to be ‘naturalized’, based on a normative assumption of identity traits. The core insight of intersectionality is: “that major axes of social divisions in a given society at a given time, for example race, class, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, and age operate not as discrete and mutually exclusive entities, but build on each other and work together.”68

§ 2.2 Intersectionality in theatre and performance theory Art can be regarded as a way to provide insight into the complexities, sensibilities and politics of intersectional discourse. It is important to address the following contradiction when talking about intersectionality: Talking about social structures is talking explicitly about differences whilst at the same time refusing and disallowing them. The paradox here is that in order to unmask social inequality – whether it is about racism, sexism, or talking about class and gender – one needs first to create more insight into these differences in how we treat others. Art can visualise and thus create insight in dealing with these impossible contradictions, because it rests on the conscious relationship of sending and receiving between artist and spectator. Art is indispensable in training the spectator in the ability to imagine a different world. Where can we find intersectionality in performance theory? The position of materialist feminism includes that there is an ideological nature to all cultural products. “Materialist feminism focusses on the construction of ideology in social formations influenced by gender, race, class and categories of sexual preference.”69 Both in the active production of a performance, as well as in the perception of this performance by the audience, ideology is present. According to Dolan, theatre creates an ideal spectator that is situated in the ideology of the dominant culture. Feminist performance criticism is rooted in the motivation of being a resistant reader. “A resistant reader analyses a performance meaning by reading against the grain of stereotypes and resisting the manipulation of both the performance text and the cultural text that it helps to shape.”70 It means to actively try not to identify with the ideal spectator, in order to see how the representation can be alien or even offensive to people that don’t identify with ideal spectator, the ideological norm set by society. In an intersectional analysis that would mean taking into account all the axes of social division that a performance

68 Collins & Bilge 2016, p. 4. 69 Dolan 1988, p. 16. 70 Ibid. 2.

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plays out in and think about how the dominant ideology was shaped. Who does it include or exclude and on what grounds? How do these identity traits interlink with each other?

§ 2.3 Intersectionality in We shall not be moved. We shall not be moved is a performance created by Opera Philadelphia and it was performed at the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam as part of the program of the Opera Forward Festival that took place between the thirteenth and twenty-sixth of March 2018. How does analysis based on intersectionality work? It does not necessarily help you in finding the ‘right’ answers, but it helps you in finding the relevant questions to ask. The following dramaturgical analysis gives an in depth inquiry into how intersectionality is used as a working concept in theatre practice. The main argument here is that intersectional thinking is present in different moments, on different levels throughout the whole process: Firstly, from the origination in the form of the school project that preceded the creational process itself, secondly in the incorporation of different music styles – hip hop and spoken word – into the genre of Opera, thirdly that it manifests in the characters and storyline and finally in how relevant context programming is added to the show series, touring across the globe.

§ 2.3.1 Genealogy of the project and the process of creation There are some critical questions that can and should be asked when analysing the mixture of two different art forms like hip-hop and opera. Both art forms are rooted in the cultural practice of different parts of society that often are distinguished into social class and colour. Was this a bottom-up or a top-down process of creation? It matters where the initiative and the ownership of the artistic product lies. Who was included into the production process (and who was not) and what was the extent of their artistic freedom? How were resources (material and financial) allocated when producing this performance? When using intersectionality as an analytical tool for performance analysis, one can not only look at the performance itself, but it also has to critically inquire as to what domains of power it is situated in and on what axes of social division it operates in the creation and the presentation of the work. It is important to mention this, because part of the meaning that is created through this performance is present in this genealogy. Not all these questions can be answered based on viewing the performance. However, some of these aspects we can analyse after further research.

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Composer Daniel Bernard Roumain reflects on the process of creation, that started with young kids in a classroom in Philadelphia who had written poems that were set on music. Librettist Marc Mamuthi Joseph joined the project and the workshops expanded (2013) into local performances on smaller stages. Roumain had worked together with Bill T. Jones (director and choreographer) for over a decade and then the idea of an opera was born that sprung from this home-grown realness in the artistic work. There were Hip H’Opera performances (2014) created before the opera that would later become We shall not be moved was composed in 2017. Questions surrounding who is given a voice, to say what, to whom, in what time and space are a part of a feminist theatre practice. In this case there is authenticity in the material, since it comes from people’s lived experiences. These direct remnants of what people lived through and are living through are given a stage and an audience that they would normally perhaps not be able to obtain. And this process is made public. This can also be seen as an attempt to expose social justice and as a feminist act in itself.

§ 2.3.2 An intersectional inquiry into ‘Hip-hopera’ as a multidisciplinary practice What does it mean that this performance, part of Opera Forward Festival, combines hip-hop with the classic opera genre? What questions can we raise about combining the elite highbrow art form that Opera is with hip-hop and spoken word? What are the implications of this interdisciplinarity? And, how does the performance space and intended audience influence the message that the performance tries to convey? As we have already learned, intersectionality is often used as an analytic tool to expand the understanding of individual and collective identity. Through intersectionality, one can understand how identity is multiple and influenced by life conditions that are shaped by structures of power. Intersectionality creates insight into the manifold and simultaneous oppressions linked to identity and it shows the importance of community building to fight social injustice.71 Something that we see reflected in the storyline of We shall not be moved. Here we also see some similarities to hip hop as an art form and as a culture. Hip hop culture is rooted in critique against interlocking systems of oppression. It is a way of expressing ones’ self through incorporating lived experience in music. “Regardless of the lyrics, rap music is a powerful form of expression where youth claim a voice that emphasizes individual

71 Collins & Bilge 2016, p. 117.

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identity.”72 It involves a personal narrative about how ones’ multiple identities relate to bigger systems of power, privilege and oppression. Hip hop is used to expose and comment on how identity politics are a cause for social division and how identity is related to multiple and interlocking systems of oppression. Hip hop and intersectionality both apply critical inquiry to existing power relations and the multiple social divisions that come from those power relations. However, “Hip hop is not identity politics in the abstract. Rather, hip hop constitutes an important space for developing the kind of collective identity politics that informs contemporary intersectional praxis.”73 Hip hop is not an abstract, theoretical occupation. It is real and rooted in lived experience. It is an art form, used for expressing identity politics. The purpose of hip hop besides expressing identity politics and critical inquiry into social divisions are versatile. Through hip hop culture, concrete social problems are addressed, stigma and stereotypical representations are given nuance and complexity and part of hip hop is also community building and showing solidarity through sharing experience via social commentary.

Hip hop and intersectionality both reject the views of identity that pit the individual against the collective. Instead, both highlight how collective political consciousness emerges when people see how their individual life experiences are connected to broader social forces.74

Another example for this is spoken-word poetry. An art form that is also incorporated in the opera We shall not be moved throughout different scenes. In spoken word venues, different individual artists can express their personal narratives of oppression, not hidden away or in private conversations, but in public venues, filled with supportive communities.75 This also relates to the American Folk song with the same title: we shall not be moved, that was a part of the civil rights movement. Although the lyrics are said to stretch back to the time of slavery, there is no indication about who wrote it and when it originated.76 It did however, serve as an anthem for civil rights movements and was recorded, amongst others, by Johnny

72 Collins & Bilge. Intersectionality. 117. 73 Ibid. 118. 74 Ibid. 120. 75 An inspiring example of a spoken word performance is This is not a humanizing poem by Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan. Second place runner up in The Last Word festival of 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Sz2BQdMF8 Last accessed on 17-04-2018. 76 Information about the song can be found here: https://www.thoughtco.com/we-shall-not-be-moved- traditional-1322516 Last accessed on 07-06-2018. Web.

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Cash and Elvis Presley. Music and art can have a healing unifying effect is what this opera seems to want to say with this combining of genres. Therefore, incorporating Spoken word seems a good strategy to address and overcome these social injustices that shape the American society. For that is the location where this story plays out and where this history still has an effect today. Incorporating personal narrative is a modern day feminist strategy. Speaking out about your position and in which ways you experience social injustice based on an interlinking set of attributes that are ascribed to you by the patriarchal society as being ‘part of your identity’ is a feminist practice. Addressing how normative thinking effectively leads to social division and standing up to improve the position of various minorities, no matter with what gender they identify, is a current feminist practice. This is reflected into the incorporation of spoken word as an artistic practice. “Spoken word becomes a place of healing from the injuries of varying combinations of forms of oppression. But narratives of spoken-word poetry do not exclusively emphasize anger or sadness. As part of a broader expansion of hip hop to include artists from multiple genders, sexual orientations, religious backgrounds, and even ages, spoken word events demonstrate the significance of art as a place of love, healing, and intimacy.”77 The choice of combing opera with spoken word and hip-hop seems to be motivated by this need for a space of healing and overcoming these combined forms oppression. That is wat we also learn from the various aftertalks and context programming around this performance. But what is left of this intimacy, of this act of solidarity, when you change the performance context of hip hop? Did the white highbrow opera house appropriate this, typically regarded as African American art form, incorporating it into their performance, in the hopes of attracting a new younger audience, while at the same time ticking the box on the diversity agenda? Incorporating different art forms in this particular case, connects these ideals present in this form of expression to the storyline of the opera. Solidarity, present in the self-declared familial bond – we are all brothers – is emphasized through the use of hip hop and spoken word.

77 Collins & Bilge 2016, p. 121.

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§ 2.3.3 Intersectional reflection on storyline and characters The storyline in We shall not be moved plays out in Philadelphia. Five teens roam the streets after their school turned out closed for the day due to budget deficits. Here they get involved in a violent shooting, after which they decide to run away together. They squat a house, that was formerly the headquarters of the MOVE organisation, an anarchist black liberation movement based there in the 1970’s. The history of this organisation is a violent one, involving confrontations with the police that eventually resulted in the bombing of their compound in 1985, leading to several deaths. Here the youngsters in their self-proclaimed family, try to survive. A police officer named Glenda Ramos patrols the neighbourhood, spots the kids and tries to get them to leave the house to go back to school. In a chaotic incident where she finds herself threatened by the teens, she draws her gun and shoots one of them. What follows is a struggle, where the young ones turn the tables and eventually handcuff Ramos to a chair inside the house, pointing the gun at her. It turns out that the person who was shot by one of the teens in the shooting that led to their flight, was the brother of Ramos, the police officer. The teens hold her hostage. What follows is a standoff in which the two main characters – Un/Sung and Ramos – try to understand each other and how they got into this situation in an effort to resolve it peacefully. An attempt is made to reach transparency about their motivations in order to resolve the situation. Forgiveness and mutual understanding between the Un/Sung and Glenda is sought after, ending with total silence. The final scene is where the teens burn down the house, not with fuel, but with lit candles, as if performing a ritual. Whether they let Glenda out, or silenced her forever remains a mystery.78

Un/Sung and Glenda The teens call themselves ‘brothers’ and they all self-identify as black, even though they don’t share the same skin colour. Different characters in the opera experience conflicts related to their identity, involving different axes of social divisions, like colour, gender and sexual orientation. This is reflected in for example the struggles of the female-to-male transgender boy struggling with the biological sex of body. The librettos reflect the combined struggles these teenagers face in relation to their sexuality, class, skin colour, education, lineage, and the expectations of society at large. Un/Sung reflects on this saying:

78 https://www.operaphila.org/whats-on/on-stage-2017-2018/we-shall-not-be-moved/full-synopsis/ Full synopsis of We shall not be moved. Laste visited on 03-05-2018.

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This is my body. Coloured, Girl. I’m exposed to touch, or trash. I’m from north Philadelphia, of the wrong class, of the wrong cast. America, what’s so wrong that you got laws against this body? […] Me and my brothers want to be in a place where more than one thing can be true. 79

All aspects of her identity, skin colour, sex, decent, class define her place in the world on the axes of social division. Bill T. Jones, the director of the opera, refers to the body as a site of turmoil. “The body is more than matter. It is a play on black lives matter, but it is also past material concerns. It is spiritual.”80 The identities of these kids, the situations they find themselves in, it is tumultuous, multiple and entangled. We see this reflected in the spoken word segment by the character Un/Sung: “Black, not like skin. Black, like not supposed to win. Black, like the other side of spacious skies and amber waves. We all black. Like anti- matter.”81 There is the (political) link to the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, but it goes beyond the colour of one’s skin, towards ‘not supposed to win’. This refers to how her various identity traits cooperate in placing her somewhere on the axes of division. All parts of their identity, all circumstances that these kids find themselves in are interlinked. It is a critical stance towards the system, that is shaped by all these interlinking identity politics. Here we find the question of agency, that is also typical for the third wave feminist movement. A critical analysis on the social and political structures that shape the world and subsequently you reflect on your own position and agency in it. This conflict is made visible between the characters Un/Sung, the only female- identified of the squatting teenagers and Glenda, the Latina police officer patrolling the streets of Philadelphia, who identifies as the law in one of the arias as she sings ‘I am the law’. Glenda represents the fear and prejudice in the institution of the law, and in society at large, resulting in the act of firing at the unarmed teen. At the same time, she represents the search for justice, sworn to protect and serve. Un/Sung tries to understand the structures underlying society that drove them to where they are now and that led the events as they occurred. Ramos sees a younger version of herself reflected in Un/Sung, at a crossroad. What will she choose? Eventually, what the opera tells us is that there is a grey area in what is right and wrong. Or as

79 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MExzmWCSpWo Fragment from the documentary “Whe shall not be moved the making of – Part one” Last accessed on 03-05-2018. 80 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9cVZdZmLYU Fragment from the documentary “Whe shall not be moved the making of – Part one” Last accessed on 03-05-2018. 81 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MExzmWCSpWo Fragment from the documentary “Whe shall not be moved the making of – Part one” Last accessed on 03-05-2018.

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the director put it: “Who is right and who is wrong? There are levels of culpability. One can only say I’m sorry for the part I’ve played in this.”82

§ 2.3.4 Context programming The rough material used for the spoken word sections in the opera was provided by local youth. The storyline, evolved around the aftermath of a local historical event. Was this a form of appropriation? Of turning misery into a commodity for cultural consumption enjoyed by opera audience? What is important here is that the opera performances were always accompanied by a large number of events related to context programming. We shall not be moved was often accompanied by context programming. There were ‘pre performance lectures’ and/or ‘community conversations’ around the performances.83 There were panel discussions and related performance events in the form of ‘untold stories’ by those who were affected by the real historical events, that the performance refers to, at the African American Museum in Philadelphia.84 A true attempt was made to expand the story outside of the mere performance itself. For example, in a four part documentary that was made freely available on the platform ‘youtube’. – Note, to those who have access to internet. – In the second chapter of the ‘making of’ documentary, John Holiday, who plays the character of John Blue, the sixteen-year-old transitioning transgender boy, talks about his challenges and responsibility as a cis-gender man in playing this role of a transgender.

The thing that is really important to me is to make sure to that I present and give this role the authenticity that it deserves and the truth and realistic things that are going on for the transgender person in this journey. I don’t know what that journey is like, I don’t have that journey. What I do have is the journey of being an African American gay men growing up in America and I can play off of those challenges and things that I have been through.85

82 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfkAam2H_6g Bill T. Jones in Fragment from the documentary “Whe shall not be moved the making of – Part four. 83https://www.operaphila.org/whats-on/events/other/2018/we-shall-not-be-moved-community- conversations/ Last accessed on 17-04-2018. 84https://www.operaphila.org/whats-on/events/other/2018/the-unsung-stories-of-we-shall-not-be- moved/ Last accessed on 17-04-2018 85 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNabwwchxkI Fragment from the documentary “Whe shall not be moved the making of – Part two” Last accessed on 03-05-2018. Web.

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There is an awareness present, that his lived experience is not that of a transgender person, but he can relate other struggles to the same situation. Lauren Whitehead, the actress who plays the character of Un/Sung reflects on this as well. “The level of responsibility of us as conduits for people who are carrying this story is so deeply layered. This could be one of the first operas in the history of the genre composed written and directed by people of colour.”86 This awareness I also felt witnessing the performance as part of the Opera Forward Festival in Amsterdam. There was an in-depth discussion that provided context around identity politics in the place of creation and in the creation process. Some of the things that were addressed here were the particular American context of discrimination and police violence against people of colour and the history of racism and lack of diversity within the institutions – Theatre institutions, like the opera house, being no exemption from this –. The fact that you cannot relate fully to the exact context in which the performance was made and originally showed (U.S.A. – and particularly Philadelphia) does not mean it automatically loses all relevance to the spectator. It reflects on the interlinkage of different identities and social division based on identity politics. Hip Hop is about speaking out. Reconstructing this black history in the theatre has in a way a similar effect feminist performance theory achieved. To give a voice to those who are unheard. To recover stories that are repressed by the dominant histories. Raise consciousness about social injustice, with a sensibility for the combination of all axes of social divisions a group of people are linked with. This is a story about the interlinking between the colour of ones’ skin, their age, their descent, their cultural and spiritual heritage, their education, their family ties, their sex and self-identified gender. At the same time, using different art forms to create a bridge, art forms that are appropriate and that do justice to the story itself. The performance was created through a process of critical inquiry into authenticity and storytelling. Meaning can be drawn not just from the performance itself, but also meaning is generated in the creation process. The performances were accompanied by an extensive context programming. This performance does testify to recent developments in feminist theory. For example, the discourse on intersectionality has shown that women’s identities are heterogeneous, plural, and constructed through a web of overlapping and interlinking identifications. This opera specifically focuses not on one aspect of the identity of its characters, but shows the multiple oppressions that these characters face.

86 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNabwwchxkI Fragment from the documentary “Whe shall not be moved the making of – Part two” Last accessed on 03-05-2018. Web.

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CHAPTER 3 – Performing body politics – Reclaiming a narrative Throughout history, female sexuality has led to a lot of discussion and disunity within feminism. Within feminist movements the anti-pornography advocates are diametrically opposing feminists celebrating their femininity through sexual expression. There is still a strong normative idea present in society about what people should look like and with whom and in what matter they should have sex. What forces shape our attitudes toward sex today? One of the key concepts in exploring female sexuality in the representation of women today is ‘the male gaze’. In the performance central to this chapter Cock… Cock… Who’s there? (2017) Samira Elagoz comments on the male gaze and these normative ideas for female sexuality by means of exposing that male gaze and therby also exposing the risks and dangers that have shaped the female body image (or that she, in this case, refuses to let shape her own body image). This chapter will focus on ‘speaking out’ as a specific feminist practice that was implemented in various ways throughout this performance. Firstly, it will underscore by using Foucault that speaking out is a political act that gives power to the repressed. Secondly, it will address how Elagoz utilizes the medium film to regain control over her narrative and finally, it will highlight that the lecture form Elagoz uses to tell her story testifies to this performance being a product of contemporary feminism. The main argument made in this chapter is that it is language – in this case that of performance – that allows the victim to gain power back over the narrative. Elagoz power resides in ‘speaking out’, and in how she makes visible her own sexuality and how this is effected by body politics within society. She fights the sexual repression women face through the reclaiming of the representation of her body. In contemporary feminism we see women reclaiming their own sexuality, reclaiming the representation of their sexualized bodies, and instead of being victims, they take back control over the narratives about classic womanhood that dominate(d) our patriarchal society.

§ 3.1 Sexual repression as a starting point for analysis As a form of critique on patriarchy, having control over one’s own body and the right to free sexual expression, not only as in the service of reproductive heteronormativity, is still high on the agenda of contemporary feminism. Case wrote that during the second wave:

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One of the major discoveries of radical feminism that raised women’s consciousness of their experiences was that the oppression of women was a sexual, erotic oppression. Male culture made women’s bodies into objects of male desire, converting them into sites of beauty and sexuality for men to gaze upon.87

Within different feminist movements, opinions differ about how one should express their (female) sexuality and how people should wear the consequences of their expressed sexuality. Today, the notion prevails that women are more sexually liberated and less repressed in their sexual expression than ever before throughout the history of feminism. Is this true? Talking about sex is a political act. It exposes a power relation actively shaping society. Going back to the definition of politics as Millet used it in her book Sexual Politics: “The term politics shall refer to power-structured relationships, arrangements whereby one group of persons is controlled by another.”88 Foucault wrote The will to knowledge, volume one in his History of Sexuality series in 1976. He wrote about sexual repression:

For decade now, we found it difficult to speak on the subject without striking a different pose: we are conscious of defying established power, our tone of voice shows that we know we are being subversive, and we ardently conjure away the present and appeal to the future, whose day will be hastened by the contribution we believe we are making. Something that smacks of revolt, of promised freedom, of the coming age of a different law, slips easily into this discourse on sexual oppression.”89

Talking about sex is given a political charge here. When talking about sexual oppression one takes a subversive position, thinking that one day this particular suppression will cease to exist. Why do we define the relationship between sex and power in terms of repression? What is the vantage of approaching sexuality from the concept of repression? Something that Foucault coined as the ‘speaker’s benefit’:

87 Case 1988, p. 66. 88 Millet 1970, p. 23. 89 Foucault 1976, p. 6-7.

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If sex is repressed, that is, condemned to prohibition, nonexistence, and silence, then the mere fact that one is speaking about it has the appearance of a deliberate transgression. A person who holds forth in such language places himself to a certain extent outside the reach of power; he upsets established law; he somehow anticipates the coming freedom.90

Exploring sexuality from the point of repression, gives an adequate way of addressing the consequences. Repression often operates through silencing the repressed. Speaking out about repression empowers the repressed. He also wrote:

What sustains our eagerness to speak of sex in terms of repression is doubtless this opportunity to speak out against the powers that be, to utter truths and promise bliss, to link together enlightenment, liberation and manifold pleasures; to pronounce a discourse that combines the fervour of knowledge, the determination to change the laws, and the longing for the garden earthly delights.91

This is where the performance Cock… Cock… Who’s there? (2017) by Samira Elagoz enters the stage. I’ve witnessed this performance at Theater Bellevue on the 26th of October 2017. Elagoz, as we will see in the rest of this chapter, is empowering herself through speaking out. Yes, but what Samira Elagoz adds to this speaking out is not only that there is a longing for the garden of earthly delights, of free sexual expression in order to enjoy the body, but also that this process can be a violent one, and sometimes it is a matter of life and death. That the risks and dangers leading towards repression of sexuality are real and are inflicting violence on the body.

§ 3.2 Cock… Cock… Who’s there? Samira Elagoz is a Finnish/Egyptian choreographer and cinematographer who in her work focusses on the cinematic aspects of real life. Through her work she encourages the audience to discuss their own ethics and intimacy. In Cock… Cock… Who’s There? we see Elagoz trying to work through her trauma of being raped twice, as she registers, directs and assembles the images of her own healing-process. In a lecture-like performance she explores her own sexuality through analysing one-on-one encounters she has with men in different

90 Foucault 1976, p. 6. 91 Ibid. 7.

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countries.92 By doing so she is showing us the dangers that she faces that come with the expression of her sexuality. She was raped twice, once by her boyfriend at the time and once in Japan, during her research. What Elagoz emphasizes in her performance is not only her own positionality and viewpoint toward the subject. It is also the institutionalized view on female sexuality and victimhood. The performance strategies she uses contain remnants of (second wave) feminism, visible in her use of the ‘sharing group’. They also contain strong linkage to third wave feminism, for example in taking her own story as a starting point. Also through her use of film as an important medium, she critically engages with the male gaze, present in everyday spectatorship.

§ 3.2.1 The use of the medium film – The Male Gaze During the performance, film is the dominant medium. Besides the big projections on the back drop, there is only a single chair on stage, from which she tells her story. Through the documentary form, she shapes the conditions of her own story in how it is told. In film, the principal means of organizing the gaze is the camera. Through handling the camera herself and turning her heling process into her private documentary project, she takes back control over the male gaze, that violated her in the past. The concept of the male gaze comes from film theory93 (Teresa de Lauretis, 1985). The male gaze is about an asymmetrical ratio between genders. The world is viewed from a male, heterosexual point of view. It represents women as objects of male desire. Earlier on, we’ve seen how women according to radical feminism, learned that their oppression was of a sexual nature.

Women (on stage) never represent the subject position – their desire is not symbolised in patriarchal culture. Nor do the dynamics of their desire operate within the theatrical experience. The audience becomes the male subject, exiled in the system of theatrical representation and driven by unfulfilled desire.94

Women were seen as the object of male desire. What is important to note here is that: “Women learned to view their own bodies in the same way, and so were prevented from

92 https://www.theaterkrant.nl/recensie/cock-cock-whos-there/samira-elagoz/ A review of Cock… Cock… Who’s There? By the Theaterkrant. Last visisted on 23-04-2018. 93 Read for example: Lauretis, Teresa de,. “Aesthetic and Feminist Theory: Rethinking Women’s Cinema”. New German Critique. No. 34 (1985), pp. 154-175 94 Case 1988, p. 120.

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identifying with their own appearance.”95 This is where the concept of the male gaze becomes important. “The concept of the male gaze asserts that representations of women are perceived as they are seen by men. Here ‘men’ represents the male subject in capitalist patriarchy.”96 Compared to men, who are the subject, women become the object of the gaze, or the ‘other’. This male gaze was internalized, to the extent that women also came to see themselves as objects of male desire, making them act accordingly. By identifying with the male gaze (the normative ideology in our patriarchal capitalist society), an audience also looks at women as objects of desire. Women become the objects of the gaze. Elagoz takes this male gaze to the extreme in her performance as she portrays herself in her research as the object of desire for men, literally confronting the masculine gazer for her documentary. In film, the principal means of organizing the gaze is the camera. Through the use of camera Elagoz in a way takes back control over the male gaze, she takes back control over her own representation, reclaiming her body image from patriarchal colonization. After all, “the position of power is not the one in front of the camera; it’s the one behind the camera.”97 This is a quote from Peggy Phelan, who argued in her book Unmarked. The Politics of Performance, that what matters is how you are positioned to be seen and heard, how you actively resist or occupy the role that you’ve been given within a visual field, organized by the powers that see (my emphasis added).98 She notes that this gaze is not only mostly male, but also mostly white. The male gaze has been topic of a lot of feminist readings and analysis of the visual arts and literature.99

§ 3.2.2 Conversations with friends and family - the personal is political Besides incorporating shots from her documentary and research material, she also filmed conversations she had with close friends and family, with whom she discusses her traumatic experiences. Especially within the conversations she has with her mother and grandmother, who also share their experiences on the topic of sexual violence, it becomes clear how much Elagoz’ personal experiences, seem to be part of a societal problem. Here we see a clear remnant of second wave feminism and the idea that the personal is also political as Elagoz

95 Case 1988, p. 66. 96 Ibid. 119. 97 Solga 2016, p. 25. 98 Ibid. 25. 99 For more extensive research into the ‘male gaze’ read: Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism : Introductory Readings. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford UP, 1999: 833-44. And Unmarked. The Politics of Performance by Peggy Phelan. London: Routledge. (1993).

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reverts to this phenomenon of ‘sharing among women’. As was pointed out in the first chapter, in the second wave, we’ve seen how this sharing between women can forge a strong bond. Here we see that sharing these experiences between three generations of women, not only provides therapeutic relief, it also shows that this problem is not only a personal, but also a societal problem. Three generations of women have been confronted with sexual violence and the repression of their sexuality as a consequence from that. In doing so Elagoz addresses the spectator as well including us in her ‘sharing experience’. It is a societal problem, it is a collective problems and collective action is needed to think of a solution that benefits the whole society. In the way she incorporated this act of sharing in her performance, her personal issues become societal issues and she indirectly calls upon the audience to address this societal issue at a collective level, all the while maintaining total control over the narrative through her handling of the camera.

§ 3.3 Men as objects of research - Taking control over the male gaze She tells us her story about how she was raped by her boyfriend, how she then created this documentary idea, where she meets men online and then films their first real life encounter, meeting up one on one at their homes, dressed ‘girlie’ or ‘schoolgirl like’. We see shots of her sitting on their beds, talking about meeting girls online and about the question ‘what would normally happen now’? Through this documentary style, we see male behaviour as an object of study. Through the way it was edited and framed she exposes male behaviour almost as if we are looking at a nature documentary. Through her positioning, her topic, the way she handles the camera we are witness to something referring to the animal kingdom; a process that is called sexual selection, where males often go through extreme lengths in order to seduce the female and eventually mate successfully.100 Or as it was written down in the review in De Theaterkrant: “Especially when we notice how much the men display their different skills, because just as big as the need for power and control is their tendency to want to impress.” 101 We literally see some of the well-known seduction methods from nature at play in the research material for her documentary: Dress to impress, serenade, stand out from the crowd, the offering of a gift, and even the approximation of the same sex. All these strategies we see

100 https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/evo_28 Berkeley source for information on evolution. Last accessed on 23-04-2018. 101 https://www.theaterkrant.nl/recensie/cock-cock-whos-there/samira-elagoz/ A review of Cock… Cock… Who’s There? By the Theaterkrant. My translation. Last visisted on 23-04-2018.

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passing by in the male objects of her study of the first encounter. For example, when one of the guys takes his guitar and serenades Elagoz, or the gender fluid guy she meets, with whom she spends a number of days. These reflections offer some humour and relativity to the otherwise ponderous topic. Ironically there is also danger involved in this process of seduction and imposing and this is exactly what Elagoz also displays in her performance: “Sexual selection is often powerful enough to produce features that are harmful to the individual's survival. For example, extravagant and colourful tail feathers or fins are likely to attract predators as well as interested members of the opposite sex.”102 In the animal kingdom, it is mostly the male impressing the female. However, what Elagoz exposes in her performance is exactly the difference between men and women in their advances toward the opposite sex. In this game of seduction, the risks and dangers differ for men and women. If a woman approaches a man and he is not interested he can walk away, but, if a man approaches a woman and she says no, she risks violence. It is exactly this, that she has lived through, and what she addresses in working through her personal trauma of being raped. The stakes are different for women in expressing their sexuality. The consequence is: a repression of that same sexuality in order to limit the risks of violence. This is what Elagoz shows us in these scenes: The delicate balance between on the one hand acting out attractiveness, being pleasant to be around, pleasing and seducing and, on the other hand, that attraction transforming into desire and lust that could lead to violence, domination and possession. Here she implicitly also critiques the ‘natural’ traits attributed to the different genders roles critiquing the constructedness of gender. It is this longing for intimacy and connection, the grey area before crossing the boundaries, the risk of violence and this eventually leads to internalized repression of one’s sexuality. At the end of the performance she also places a self-critical note, when she revises her own Instagram feed, starting from when she was thirteen. She reflects on a collection of photos taken over a time period of over ten years, making painfully visible how great the influence is of the hypersexualised mediated female body on her own body image and how this has influenced her own bodily expression during her coming of age. It is remarkable, how she uses the platform, the medium of the camera, to take back control over her representation, over her body image, over her expressed sexuality. In doing so she reclaims her body over the male gaze and over us the spectators sitting in the audience. Through the use of film and photographs of herself, she confronts the audience in a very visceral way (for example, when

102 https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/evo_28 Berkeley source for information on evolution. Last accessed on 23-04-2018.

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she shows us shots of herself, with heavy make-up running down her face and with a white substance dripping from her mouth) with the intercommunication between the real and the mediatized body.

§ 3.4 Documentary/lecture form as a performance strategy The generation of feminists growing up at the very end of the third wave, according to Archer Mann & Huffman build on the tradition of poststructuralist thinking, resulting in a preference for localized, mini-narratives over theory.103 Through their own personal narratives, the contradictions, complexities, uncertainties and dilemmas within their own environment and of the world at large are explored. One performer I would definitely locate within this frame of hyper-personal research is Samira Elagoz. In her performance Cock.. Cock.. Who’s there? she used her personal experiences in a documentary performance piece in order to explore larger political and social issues of sexuality, image culture and social media. She falls perfectly in the category of the young feminist, in her strategic use postmodernist and post structuralist techniques. Reffering back to what Archer Mann and Huffman wrote about using deconstruction as a rejection of binary polarities. Elagoz uses contradictions to expose the social construction of reality.104 Elagoz investigates the structure of the feminine by exploring the power relations in place surrounding ‘slutshaming’ and ‘victimblaming’, being a victim of sexual violence herself. Reclaiming her sexuality in her look, openly, not letting her appearance be dictated by societal expectations and so resisting identity categorization. In the performance Elagoz tries to overcome the trauma of being raped twice in her life. Focussing on this topic could also be seen as a feminist act in itself.

The early [feminist] movement also underscored the enforcement of the objectification of women’s bodies by the institution of rape. Rape began to be perceive as a patriarchal weapon that directly wounded or violated women and indirectly, as a threat, kept women off the streets and alienated them from the expression of their own sexual desires.105

So, both in her choice of theme and topic as well as in the fact that she is fighting this alienation it shows that Elagoz refuses this objectification through reclaiming control over the

103 Archer Mann & Huffman 2005, p. 70. 104 Ibid. 71. 105 Case 1988, p. 66.

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representation of her sexualised female body. She exposes the consequences of the act of rape being a tool for sexual-gender oppression. She does this in exposing institutional misconceptions in the scenes about the police investigation. She shows the audience the procedures that were followed when the police investigated her body, searching for traces of rape and in exposing victim-blaming that she was confronted with when telling her story to a police officer. Again, in doing so she elevates her personal story of being raped and consecutively being violated again by the institution of the police force into a political issue of sexual gender oppression through rape culture. Coming back to the main argument: speaking out is a way of performing body politics. The dramaturgical outline of this performance revolves around working with body politics and the repressive forces that are in play surrounding female sexuality. The way Elagoz parted from this repression is through her reclaiming of the narrative that she lived through. Het means of achieving this lie in her use of the camera, in the exposing of the functionality of the male gaze and in actively incorporating us the spectators into her sharing process through the use of the lecture-form to tell her story. Foucault already mentioned in 1976 that the road toward freeing ourselves from sexual repression would be a long one. “All the longer, no doubt, as it is in the nature of power – particularly the kind of power that operates in our society – to be repressive, and to be especially careful in repressing useless energies, the intensity of pleasures, and the irregular modes of behaviour.”106 What Elagoz achieved with her performance, was a critical analysis of the repressive powers of her female sexuality on her own life. She did this through taking back control over the male gaze and through using documentary as a performance strategy. It was the language of performance that gave her back the power over her own narrative.

106 Foucault 1976, p. 11.

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CHAPTER 4 Gender construction in Hamlet vs. Hamlet As was previously stated in chapter one, the distinction between sex and gender already found its way into feminism during the second wave. The notion that gender is socially constructed instead of biologically determined paved the way for the manufacturability of gender identity. What theories on gender construction have done for feminism is strengthen the idea that there is no pre-existing or ‘natural’ explanation for sex and sexuality. Women – or men – cannot be delineated back to their physiology. Their sex was no longer the primary causal explanation for their social existence or lived experience. A major part of feminism today is exposing the patriarchal bias that is imposed through heteronormative thinking. It could be seen as one of the most pertinent battles in contemporary feminism to fight the way in which men and women are represented and the classic gender roles that are still attributed to them in society. Playing with gender construction is something we can also see happening in contemporary theatre practice. This chapter will use gender construction as a working concept to analyse the construction of the gender in the characters of the performance Hamlet vs. Hamlet107 [Amsterdam, 2014] in which the iconic figure of Hamlet was played by a female actress. Some inquiry into the motives of this gender swap will tell that a critical note must be placed with this gender swapping of Hamlet. There will be a critical inquiry into the underlying reason for portraying Hamlet as an androgynous figure. The main argument being that the androgynous traits of Hamlet in this particular performance are used as a specific kind of gender construction that is not overcoming the gender binary, but that is in a way even enforcing its patriarchal prejudice. Androgyny was appropriated here not as to show an alternative state of gender-being. On the contrary, the effeminate traits of Hamlet are used to emphasize that Hamlet is an adolescent male. A youngster, still developing into a grown man. Femininity is used as a way of showing the immaturity of Hamlet. This shows us how the constructedness of gender is used as a performance strategy in character building. An in depth inquiry into the characters of a play is an important part of dramaturgical practice.

§ 4.1 Concstruction of gender Let’s first look at the concept of Gender. In her essay Performative Acts and Gender Constitutions (1988) Butler explains the concept of gender as a historical situation. The body

107 Hamlet vs. Hamlet premiered on March 19th 2014 at the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam. The performance was a coproduced between Toneelgroep Amsterdam and Toneelhuis. https://tga.nl/voorstellingen/hamlet-vs-hamlet Last accessed on 24-05-2018. Web.

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is constantly embodying possibilities that are historically determined. Therefore, it is not a stable identity:

Gender is in no way a stable identity or locus of agency from which various acts proceed: rather, it is an identity tenuously constituted in time – an identity instituted through a stylized repetition of acts. Further, gender is instituted through the stylization of the body and, hence, must be understood as the mundane way in which bodily gestures, movements, and enactments of various kinds constitute the illusion of an abiding gendered self.108

Gender is an identity that is constructed over time through a repetition of acts that are stylized and that manifest itself onto the body. It is not something that ontologically exists internally, but it is something that is constructed and that shapes the external corporeal style of the body. Butler draws from Merleau Ponty and phenomenology in explaining how the body is both a historical idea and a set of possibilities to be continually realized.109 This means that the body constantly gains and produces meaning through expression in a mediated world. Not adhering to these norms can have punitive consequences within society. By a continually realized set of possibilities Merleau Ponty means that there is no predetermined interior essence of the body, but that it is shaped through the production and reproduction of a historical situation. It is hard to comprehend the relationship between structure and agency here. If it is a repetition of acts, and if it has punitive consequences for those who can’t (or rightfully won’t) adjust to the norm, can we not just change the norm? No, because the norm is exactly that, it is believed to be natural. It is a cultural fiction that through its own repetition becomes a cultural fact.

There is neither an “essence” that gender expresses or externalizes nor an objective ideal to which gender aspires: because gender is not a fact, the various acts of gender create the idea of gender, and without those acts there would be no gender at all. […] The tacit collective agreement to perform, produce, and sustain discrete and polar genders as cultural fictions is obscured by the credibility of its own production.110

108 Butler 1988, p. 519. 109 Ibid. 521 110 Ibid. 522.

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It is a collective agreement and perhaps collective awareness can create some change, however, it is not as easy as just picking one identity today and choosing to identify with another gender tomorrow. Or at least not without being confronted with some form of exclusion or violence within society. Another concept that accounts for this reproduction of these gendered modes in human beings is something Butler termed the ‘heteronormative matrix’. It is a form of compulsory heteronormativity based on heterosexuality as the norm or natural regime, which in term generates two (binary) genders. Contemporary feminism actively opposes this distinction into binary gender categories, battling these punitive consequences and advocating for the acceptance and normalization of a broader spectrum of gender identities within society. So where does theatre come into play? There is an analogy with the theatre here in the sense of ‘acting’ that is not accidental. Butler first published her findings in a theatre journal for a reason. It becomes clear when we look at the distinction between performance and performativity. Performance means to take on a role, to act. In this case there is a pre-existing notion of a self, a subject or an actor. One can start and stop the performance. There is usually a beginning and an end. In the case of performativity, which is more the producing of a series of effects, there is no pre-existing notion of a subject or an actor. The subject itself is produced, the subject is the effect. Or as Butler explains it: “That the gendered body is performative suggests that it has no ontological status apart from the various acts which constitute its reality.”111 There is no interior essence. The illusion of the interior essence is created by the gestures and actions of bodily expressions that subsequently contribute to the illusion of an interior essence: The various acts of gender create the idea of gender. Having a female actress portraying the iconic figure of Hamlet, can be seen as an important step of breaching this self-fulfilling circle of these absolute gender distinctions by showing a different way. If the various acts of gender create the idea of gender, then perhaps acting out gender differently can change the idea of gender. It can be an opportunity to revise what it means to be a man or a woman. As we can see later on in this chapter, it means something, historically and culturally, that Hamlet is played by a woman.

§ 4.2 Hamlet as an androgynous figure Hamlet vs. Hamlet was a play that premiered on the 19th of March 2014 at the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam. It was coproduced by Toneelhuis and Toneelgroep Amsterdam

111 Butler 1999, p. 173.

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and directed by Guy Cassiers.112 Central in this version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is the conflict between generations, a conflict between the youngster Hamlet struggling with the loyalty towards his father, his love for his mother and his aversion towards the political games and schemes of his uncle. Hamlet struggles with an internal conflict, that is: what to do about the avenging of his father’s death? The rather dark labyrinth-resembling scenography represents this struggle playing out in Hamlets own mind where his adversaries are literally never far away and rarely out of sight. On stage moments of self-hatred and self- overestimation take their turn showing us that Hamlet is eventually his own biggest adversary, explaining the title: Hamlet vs. Hamlet. The play was written by Tom Lanoye who consciously had Abke Haring in his mind to play the role of Hamlet, whilst rewriting the classic play written by Shakespeare between 1599 and 1601.113 Abke is a female actress who after portraying Hamlet was awarded the Theo d’Or, the most prestigious Dutch award for female actresses in a leading role.114 Hamlet was portrayed by Haring as an androgynous figure. By androgynous we mean that physical characteristics of both sexes are displayed. She was partly male and partly female in appearance. Hamlet vs. Hamlet is not the first performance to include a female actress to portray the role of Hamlet.115 Since Charlotte Clarke, who portrayed Hamlet as early as in the 18th century, many more female Hamlets followed. There was even an all-female cast bringing the play to life in 1992 at the Warehouse Theatre In Croydon: The Roaring Girls Hamlet.116 Oftentimes reviews about these performances include remarks on Hamlet’s sexuality.117 In his article “Hamlet’s Femininity” Guo De-Yan [2009]118 writes extensively about both the masculine and the feminine traits of the classic tragic figure of Hamlet. Most of these traits are also clearly reflected in Abke Haring’s portrayal of Hamlet. This Hamlet is courageous.119

112 https://tga.nl/voorstellingen/hamlet-vs-hamlet Last visited on 29-05-2018. 113 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hamlet-by-Shakespeare Britannica is an online Encyclopedia. Last visited on 29-05-2018. Web. 114 https://www.theaterkrant.nl/nieuws/jacob-derwig-en-abke-haring-winnen-vscd-toneelprijzen/ Theaterkrant is a news site for performing arts full of news, reviews and articles. Last visited on 29- 05-2018. Web. 115 https://www.theguardian.com/stage/gallery/2014/sep/26/female-hamlets-sarah-bernhardt-maxine- peake-in-pictures Last visited on 29-05-2018. 116 http://www.cix.co.uk/~shutters/reviews/92014.htm A review of this performance by Ian Shuttleworth. Last visited on 29-05-2018. Web. 117 For example in the case of Maxine Peake, who was called ‘almost pre-sexual’ in her portrayal of Hamlet at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/sep/21/hamlet-maxine-peake-royal-exchange-review- delicate-ferocity Last accessed on 29-05-2018. Web. 118 De-Yan 2009, p. 93. 119 One of the masculine traits ascribed to Hamlet by Guo in “Hamlet’s Femininity”. [Guo, (2009). 90]

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He does not shy away from confrontation, not with his mother, nor with his uncle or his friends, Rozencrantz and Guilderstern, who will eventually betray him. The traditional character of Hamlet also portrays traits that are traditionally believed as belonging to women, such as hesitation, vulnerability and emotional dependence.120 When Denmark is in crisis, instead of leading at the front of the battle, Hamlet stays at home questioning faith. Public life and state affairs don’t interest Hamlet, domestic affairs all the more.121 Traditionally he moves more in the private sphere than claiming his role as a leader in the public one. How does this androgyny translate itself to the stage? In the Dutch reviews of the performance Hamlet vs. Hamlet, Haring is often referred to as an androgynous representation of the prince of Denmark.122 In trying to analyse the performative aspects in this gendered body and this Hamlet character I follow Judith Butler in presupposing that there is no ontological essence or identity to this character, other than the manufactured one (one could argue that this is true for all characters presented on stage). First of all, gender is something that manifests in corporeal signs. The appearance of this particular Hamlet is one that is not an obvious attempt to appear male. Her costume is rather tight fitted, showing her body and not concealing any of her female physical attributes. It is a richly embellished costume, reflecting the royal status of the character. Her costume exists of a sixteenth century styled pants, tight fitted at the bottom and bulging around the thighs, with a tight embroidered jacquet for a top. Both are constructed of different types of fabric in dark colours, mostly purple and black. Furthermore, Hamlet wears black high boots, very short hair and only a tiny bit of subtly applied make-up. Her voice is kept soft and low, giving the whole appearance more of a young boyish look than one that is explicitly male or female. Secondly, her gender appearance manifests into gestures, movement and behavioural signs. Haring makes no obvious attempt to impersonate a man and is therefore not adhering to traditionally hegemonic masculine traits in terms of a physical appearance. On the contrary; Haring equally emphasises in Hamlet those traits that have been associated in the past with a more feminine side of Hamlet. He is a philosopher, but at the same time, this Hamlet is of a softer nature. More traditional concepts linking gender to masculinity and femininity would associate thinking with masculinity and feeling with femininity.123 The androgyny in Hamlet here is present in his love for thinking. His mind never stops working. This Hamlet can be

120 De-Yan 2009, p. 92. 121 Ibid. 92 122 A collection of reviews can be found here: http://www.lanoye.be/tom/wp- content/uploads/2014/05/hamlet-vs-hamlet-recensies-1.pdf Last visited on 29-05-2018. Web. 123 De-Yan 2009, p. 91.

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stout-hearted, confident and cocksure. He is also both very contemplative and empathetic towards the world around him, always expressing himself in a soft voice using poetic language. He is constantly moving on both a physical and a more metaphysical level representing a dreamy and at times melancholic youngster who is merely trying to make sense of the world around him. In the language uttered in the play Hamlet is referred to as male. This follows from different moments where he is called ‘prince’, ‘my boy’, ‘son’ and so forth. The play is also filled with reflections on and references towards theatre itself. There is an emphasis on Hamlet playing Hamlet. Yorick teaches Hamlet to see theatre as a form of glorious deceit, as a means to find true meaning, and clarity. This is something he also emphasises in his dialogues with Hamlet. Hamlet should learn from his imagination; “Man is only the effect of his imagination, the actor in his own story.”124 So, Hamlet is referred to as male, and his young boyish appearance also contributes to that. In many reviews it is mentioned that the generation gap is central in this version of Hamlet. His androgynous appearance is linked to adolescence.125 This youth is what Lanoye emphasised in his version of Hamlet. Also, in words he is a thinker, a rational man, but in his actions he seems to follow the more feminine traits of indecisiveness and emotional dependence. Looking at it from this perspective, Hamlet is also fighting a very gendered two- way battle in his own mind: to seek revenge as opposed to act out forgiveness, to follow up on his duty to avenge his father instead of following his desires, to act on his oath, or to remain hesitant and inactive. He swore to avenge his father’s death and is fuelled by hatred for his uncle, who is guilty of the murder. At the same time, following up on his father’s command would mean being untrue to his own conscience and sense of what is morally right and what is wrong. His sense of duty clashes with his sensitive and caring nature, resulting in an emotional inner conflict: Hamlet vs. Hamlet.

§ 4.3 Geneology of Hamlet as a classic gender(ed) story Hamlet vs. Hamlet contains different references to other classic plays, like Romeo and Juliet, Medea, Antigone, and Trojan Women. Hamlet is also famous as a classic repertoire peace. In the search for a feminist zeitgeist in Hamlet vs. Hamlet, one has to trace back the iconic status

124 From: Hamlet vs. Hamlet. Toneelgroep Amsterdam. Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam (2014). After about 48 minutes. 125 Here you’ll find a collection of reviews: http://www.lanoye.be/tom/wp- content/uploads/2014/05/hamlet-vs-hamlet-recensies-1.pdf Last visited on 31-01-2018.

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of the piece and the character of Hamlet throughout theatre history in order to understand the gravity of a female actress portraying the role of Hamlet. There is a history of gender transgression that is rooted in our classic repertoire and that is well made visible by Sue-Ellen Case in her book Feminism and Theatre. Critical inquiry into the societal structures and circumstances in terms of the position of women, in which these ‘classics’ emerged shows how deeply rooted the effects of gender transgression were, and maybe today still are. In her book Feminism & Theatre Case argues that theatre originated in a hegemonic structure of patriarchal practice.126 In ancient Greece, over the course of the socio-economic organisation of Greece and the development of cultural institutions alongside it, women were regarded as part of the private sphere and men operated in the public sphere.127 Hence, only they were allowed to participate in theatre practice. Women’s roles were played by male actors wearing masks, so the re-enacting of the female character was based on a male interpretation of what it is like to be a woman. Also, the authors writing these plays were all men. Female characters were constructed by the hands of men and acted out by male bodies. Their roles consequently revolved around those moments where women interacted with men, as their wife, daughter, sister, lover or mother, or interacting with other women revolving around the lives (and interests) of men. “As a result of the suppression of real women, the culture invented its own representation of gender, and it was this fictional ‘Woman’ who appeared on stage in the myths and in the plastic arts, representing the patriarchal values attached to the gender while suppressing the experiences, stories, feelings and fantasies of actual women.”128 So the ‘Woman’ here, is a male-produced fiction. This is important to take into account when we think about the iconic status these classical plays had over the course of history, and still have to some extent today.

“The ‘classics’ of Athenian, Roman and Elizabethan drama were all produced by cultures that denied women access to the stage and allowed them few legal and economic rights. The values of a patriarchal society are embedded in the texts of these periods.”129

Here Case makes a direct link between theatre practice and the society it is produced and rooted in. The division between men and women into a public and private sphere (as we have

126 Case 1988, p. 15. 127 Ibid. 9. 128 Ibid. 7. 129 Ibid. 11-12.

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seen in chapter one as well) has a direct effect on the representation of women in public life. It is the effect of patriarchy: men (holding power), in their representation of women, create a male-produced fictional ‘Woman’. Because of their historical background, these classic plays can be ideally suited to address gender norms and gendered behaviour. The patriarchal prejudice in ancient Greek theatre is according to Case also present in one of the most canonical works in theatre history, the Poetics, written by Aristotle. His perspective on women, their role in society and their place in the theatre is deduced from various different parts of his book. Male being “the standard of good”, women being “inferior to men – and slaves being lowest of all.” Men are given traits appropriate for the tragic character, like being brave and having great intellectual ability.130131 Other than in comparison to men, women are invisible. “There are no qualities ascribed to them, and their invisibility provides the empty space which organises the focus on the male subject. In this way, they are subjects of tragic action only in so far as they might help to define the male character.”132 It is worth noting here that Case also links Aristotle’s’ Poetics to his work; Politics, again linking the role women played in society to their representation within the theatre. The importance of the Poetics could not be overstated throughout theatre history. In many time periods and within the development of many genres the text has played its role. Through the revalorisation of Aristotle’s Poetics, the Greek experience was replicated within Elizabethan theatre.133 During this time, women were also banished from a profession in theatre, suppressing the female body and voice from public appearance. The Catholic church had proclaimed theatre as ‘immoral’. Women who performed in theatre were associated with prostitution or ‘immoral sexual conduct’. The idea was that controlling prostitutes would control prostitution and so women were banned from the stage. Note here that women at that time (as women are today through victim-blaming in sexual assault cases) held responsible for the sexual conduct of men. Sexuality inscribed on the female body would give rise to a sexual response from men, bringing chaos to society. So, no more women on stage and again we have a male-produced fiction of what a woman is in the process of creating and showing theatre. Boys would play the female characters, emphasising the inferior and dependence to their adult male counterparts. As for Hamlet, there has been done some research into the masculine and feminine traits of Hamlet. The next part of this chapter will contain a more critical analysis of

130 Case 1988, p. 16. 131 Ibid. 16. 132 Ibid. 17. 133 Ibid. 19.

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the presence of these gender traits in the character Hamlet and in relation to the other characters that are presented on the stage in Hamlet vs. Hamlet.

§ 4.4 Androgyny of Hamlet as an in between state The next part will contain a critical inquiry into the motives behind the gender swapping of Hamlet. In order to perform that inquiry, we need to take a closer look at how the character Hamlet is constructed in relationship to the gender roles of the other characters Tom Lanoye presented in his adaptation. The only characters represented on stage besides were Claudius, Gertrude, Polonius, Laertes and Ophelia. Taking on the more light hearted comical intermezzos were two actors playing both Rozenkrantz and Guildernstern and the grave diggers. In a way this version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet follows the classical rules of a patriarchal society, where classic male traits include being strong, courageous, rational and sexually aggressive. and all these traits are represented in the three most prominent male characters: Polonius, Laertes and Claudius. Polonius and Laertes both have a sexual relationship with Ophelia, interacting aggressively with her in sexual ways multiple times in several scenes. The men lead and command, both in the private arena and the public one. Privately, Claudius controls Gertrude and both Laertes and Polonius control Ophelia. Publicly Claudius declares a war, in which Laertes gladly and voluntarily participates. Analysing the presence of stereotypical attributes of women; being weak, fragile, emotional and timid, both Gertrude and Ophelia adhere to this picture. Gertrude is subordinate to Claudius, whose control over her clearly manifests in a scene where she gives a speech to her people, following the tragic death of her husband and her new marriage to the kings’ brother. He holds her microphone, while she reads aloud her speech with shaking hands. Afterwards Gertrude has a scene with Hamlet in which he proclaims: “Weakness, your name is woman.”134 The only real moment of strength for Gertrude is when she confronts Hamlet with his feigned mad behaviour. Here she shows her authority as a mother over her child. However, she loses this authority, when Hamlet gets physical with her, throwing her on the ground, bending over her and yelling in her face. This is the only moment Hamlet really gets physical in the entire play, and it is with his mother, the only person he can really overpower physically. This is also the moment Hamlet breaks loose from his need for motherly love that fuelled his hatred towards her actions of remarrying his uncle. The great

134 From: Hamlet vs. Hamlet. Toneelgroep Amsterdam. Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam (2014). About 21 minutes into the play.

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emphasis on this scene could be seen as an example of a step towards adulthood that has proven the thematic choice for the character development of Hamlet. Ophelia, in turn is referred to in metaphors of nature like ‘dove’, ‘blossom’ or ‘spring breeze’, is the materialization of fragility and obedience. She is accused of having a seductive effect on all men. Her beauty turns them into beasts. She is commanded by her brother and father not to see Hamlet anymore, after being subjected to aggressive sexual behaviour from both her brother and father and she eventually loses her mind, before getting killed by her brother Laertes. As opposed to Hamlet, whose love for Ophelia manifests not in the flesh, but in their intellectual exchanging of a love for books. In this play, Hamlet makes no physical advances towards Ophelia whatsoever as opposed to the classic play written by Shakespeare.135 This lack of physical response to Ophelia’s sexuality indicates a deliberate focus on Hamlet’s immature body. He doesn’t have the physical response to arousal that men have. This is all the more notable when we see the aggressive sexual behaviour from the other male characters presented in the play. As Ophelia says during Hamlet vs. Hamlet when talking to her father Polonius about their love: She claims his love is honourable, not of a physical nature, but a love that manifests in words. To illustrate this fragility on stage, she is the only one wearing a white dress, also symbolizing her purity and virtue. The only remaining main character represented in Hamlet vs. Hamlet that is not discussed so far is Yorick. He acts as the internalized voice of Hamlet, his conscience, his mentor. He is the only one Hamlet shares his true feelings with. They have a deeper emotional connection than Hamlet shares with anyone else. This emotional layer is also emphasised by the fact that Yorick is played by a female actress. All of the main characters seem somewhat one dimensional, with a clear focus, goal and limited emotional frame outlining and explaining their actions. Hamlet on the other hand is indecisive, a dreamer, philosopher, mad and hysterical at times and not always fully in control over his feelings. He is hot-spirited and at the same time thoughtful and cautious. One moment he is headstrong and confident, only to revel in self-pity the next. He oscillates between different states of being. For example, when we look at Hamlet in relation to his mother, we find a child, who is torn between the love for his mother and the hatred over her actions. He struggles with avenging his father’s death, since murder goes against his belief of what is right and just in this world, at the same time regarding loyalty as one of the highest virtues. This in between state is translated into an androgynous being.

135 De-Yan 2009, p. 91.

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In the case of Hamlet vs. Hamlet, androgyny was used as a strategy to portray Hamlet as an individual torn between worlds, as literally moving in between genders. It is not done to question in any way the traditional image of hegemonic masculinity in the classic tragic figure. Instead, it stems from a representation of youth, in a way saying that the androgynous figure Hamlet is not fully grown yet. Proof for this theory is the way the other female characters were portrayed that do adhere to the binary gender norms set in a patriarchal society, as was previously explained. Adding femininity, just makes Hamlet not yet a grown man. Instead of showing that Hamlet carries both masculine and feminine traits, resulting in a rejection of binary gender categories, what the makers of this performance say by this emphasis on youth and adolescence is that the femininity in Hamlet only makes him an underdeveloped subject, not yet a fully grown man. There is a disparity in the way the gender binaries are used here, where the masculine still overpowers the feminine. The way the character Hamlet, as played by Abke Haring is performed still still testifies to the patriarchal concept of woman as being an inferior gender. Without understating the importance of a woman representing the tragic figure for the emancipation of the female protagonist. The reason to do it testifies of an old-fashioned patriarchal notion of a binary gender norm in which the male is still in the position of power, and adding female traits to that only causes a devaluation of the steadiness and stability of the heroic figure. In this case, casting Hamlet as a woman could be seen as a re-affirmation of the binary gender norms set in a patriarchal society instead of this being a subversive act that opposes these binaries. Still, casting Hamlet as a woman is important when looking at the anxieties and codes of our time. The notion that gender can be fluid is a cultural construction that makes this performance a product of a third wave feminist zeitgeist. It is important to critically analyse and inquire about cross-gender casting, because the effect of that, the outcome on stage holds power. Representation holds power. The fictions of the female gender that are shown on stage are also applied on real women outside of the theatre. Historically, these fictions have been used to repress women and strengthen the gender norms. In contemporary feminism, there is a renewed focus on how the fiction of gender attributes are inscribed on bodies and how there is violence in that.

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Conclusion

In the introduction the research question was formulated as follows:

The answer to this question never seemed a one sided one. The first chapter already made clear that feminism in itself is a very versatile and a layered thought process. The basic assumptions underlying feminism may seem universal, but the ways to combat inequality and the priorities in doing so can vary for every feminist. Feminism has been used as an umbrella term to refer to many different movements, with as many different agenda’s and ways to achieve them. The first chapter shows that, this has been the case over the course of history. My method was a historical analysis that was based on the assumption of a status quo in main feminist movements at the time, and the segregation into new movements and the development of new theories that follow out of inadequacies and critique of this status quo. Doing this in a more or less chronological order suggests that there is a causality in this developments, and to some extent there is. However, there are many more ways of analysing feminist movements that might do more justice to the wide variety of feminist movements at different moments in history. Overall My findings were that, central to the second wave was a united sense of ‘womanhood’, that created solidarity amongst women. Besides political struggles, feminist thought also leaped into the personal and familial issues. Later, this unification under the term ‘woman’ did not suffice anymore, and more attention was raised to the specific needs of different groups of women. Identity politics paved the way for both, uniting in solidarity in more specific directed forms of activism, while at the same time it comes with the risk of being divisive and stigmatizing and fostering a form of essentialism. Third wave feminism focusses on the multiple facets of identity politics and unjust social divisions that follow from these inadequacies of second wave feminism.

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For each of the three following chapters I focussed on one of the working concepts that I distilled from the first chapter, those being: ‘Intersectionality’, ‘body politics’ and ‘gender construction’. In each of these chapters the efficacy of these working concepts is most visible in different places and in different moments in the dramaturgical processes surrounding a performance. Analysing feminism today means also looking at the social critique in both the organisation of theatre as a practice, as well as analysing the artistic product itself and the perception of that product; the performance. In chapter two intersectional thinking ran like a red thread through the creational process, which eventually led to a performance that substantively operated on different axes of social division. This was also visible in its extensive context programming. The creation process shows us that meaning can be drawn from questions about who gets the opportunities, the resources, to express their creativity to a certain audience. Where did these stories come from and who was given the authority to speak? The mixing of genres into a multidisciplinary performance tells us more about what it means to break through certain norms and traditions. Mixing audiences and art forms was used as a strategy to overcome social divisions or at least show that they are not set in stone. As for chapter three, another aspect of the dramaturgs practice is analysing and advising on the right performance strategy a theatre maker should adopt in order to do justice to the concept of the performance. Whilst working through the trauma of sexual violence, Elagoz uses the performance strategy of explicit visibility, through her use of the camera and by adopting documentary and the lecture as a form, to take back power over her own narrative. Using biographical and highly personal material as a starting point for a performance is a tried and tested recipe in feminist theatre practice. in my analysis of Cock… Cock… Who’s there? we’ve seen how speaking up and speaking out can be seen as a political act. It empowers a woman in her efforts to take back control over the representation of her own sexualized body. In incorporating contemporary themes and issues like victim-blaming, slut-shaming and sexual violence, this performance becomes a feminist product of its time. Elagoz raises consciousness and fights sexual repression by making a performance about it, breaking the silence and placing herself outside the reach of patriarchal power constructions in play in our society. In the final chapter we see an example of how gender as a performance is consciously deployed and executed. We learned that the outcome – the portrayal of Hamlet by a female actress – can testify to a progressive feminist zeitgeist, but the motivation for getting their can demonstrate how patriarchal notions of a hierarchy in gender still exist. In this performance

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Androgyny was deployed to incorporate into the character of Hamlet a sense of immaturity. Adding female attributes, making the character of Hamlet an androgynous figure, was just to show how Hamlet was not yet a fully grown man. Instead of showing an alternative state of being, other than living on either side of the gender binary norms, this performance shows us a figure whose constructed gender is motivated by these classic gender roles. Therefore, it reinforces the gender bias that is consequential to this classic division into binary categories of man and woman within our society. By linking literature, theatre practice and social and cultural analysis the feminist scholar, dramaturg, director, or performance artist can enhance their understanding of what I coined ‘the feminist zeitgeist’. A feminist reading of theatre performance can uncover the assumptions that are generated through patriarchal production and address the level of ‘man made fiction of woman’ that is presented on stage. As this thesis has shown, the dramaturg can contribute to this process on different levels at different times: At the level of performance context, strategies to be used for the stage or in depth character analysis. During the creational process, or even well before that, when the concept itself is still a work in progress. The working concepts ‘intersectionality’, ‘body politics’ and ‘gender construction’, distilled from contemporary feminist movements have lent themselves for performance analysis, leading towards a more in depth understanding of theatre practice and its position and function in a still patriarchy-driven society. For a dramaturg it is important to understand the interlinking of the societal structures with the representation of women in the theatre in order to expose the ideology in play and bring to the stage an alternative reality. Throughout the process of working on this thesis I can definitely say I have grown more sensitive to the gender biases still present in our society today and I find myself more combative than ever to help continue the fight for true equality with the theatre as my arena.

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Works cited

Print: Alcoff, Linda. “Cultural Feminism Versus Post-Structuralism: The Identity Crisis in Feminist Theory.” Signs, Vol. 13, No. 3, 1988, pp. 405-436. Archer Mann, Susan & Douglas J. Huffman. “The Decentering of Second Wave Feminism and the Rise of the Third Wave.” Science & Society, Vol 69, No. 1, Jan 2005, pp. 56-91. Baumgardner, Jennifer and Amy Richards. Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000.

Beauvoir, Simone de. Second Sex. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1949. Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble. London: Routledge, 1999. Butler, Judith. “Performative Acts and Gender constitution.” Theatre Journal, Vol. 40, no. 4, 1988, pp. 519-531. Case, Sue-Ellen. Feminism and Theatre. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1988. Collins, Patricia Hill and Sirma Bilge. Intersectionality. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2016. De-Yan, Guo. "Hamlet's Femininity." Canadian Social Science 5.5, 2009 pp. 89-95. Dolan, Jill. The Feminist Spectator as Critic. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1988. Foucault, Michel. The history of sexuality 1: The will to knowledge. London: Penguin books, 1976. Kelly, Elisabeth A. “Review Essay: A New Generation of Feminism. Reflections on the Third Wave.” New Political Science. Vol 27, No. 2, 2005, pp. 233-243. Kolk, Mieke. Hoe vrouwen op het toneel uit hun gestolde vormen vloeien. Amsterdam: Instituut voor Theaterwetenschap, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1987. Man Ling Lee, Theresa. “Rethinking the Personal and the Political: Feminist Activism and Civic Engagement” Hypatia. Vol. 22, no. 4, 2007, pp. 163-179. Millet, Kate. Sexual Politics. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1970. Solga, Kim. Theatre and Feminism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. Striff, Erin. “Bodies of Evidence: Feminist Performance Art.” Critical Survey, Vol. 9, No. 1, 1997, pp. 1-18. Thornton Dill, Bonnie. “Race, Class and Gender: Prospects fora n All-Inclusive Sisterhood.” The Education Feminist Reader. Ed. Lynda Stone. New York: Routledge, 1994. West, Candace & Don H. Zimmerman. “Doing Gender”. Gender and Society, Vol. 1, No. 2, Jun.1987, pp. 125-151.

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Yuval-Davis, Nira. “Intersectionality and Feminist Politics.” European Journal of Women’s Studies. Vol. 13, no. 3, 2006, pp. 193-209.

Performances used as case studies: Cassiers, Guy. Hamlet vs. Hamlet. Toneelgroep Amsterdam & Toneelhuis. Viewed in march 2014 at De Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam. tga.nl/voorstellingen/hamlet-vs-hamlet Last visited on 05-06-2018. Elagoz, Samira. Cock…Cock…Who’s there?. Viewed on 26-10-2017 at Theater Bellevue Amsterdam. www.samiraelagoz.com/cock-cock-whos-there/ Last visited on 05-06-2018. Web. Roumain, Daniel Bernard. We Shall not be Moved. Opera Philadelphia. Viewed on 15-03- 2018 at Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam, as part of the Opera Forward Festival. operaforwardfestival.nl/programma/we-shall-not-be-moved/ Last visited on 05-06-2018.

Websources: Bevington, David. “Hamlet. Work by Shakespeare.” Britannica, Online cyclopaedia, 1998. www.britannica.com/topic/Hamlet-by-Shakespeare Last visited on 29-05-2018. Broek, Moos van den. “Visuele Lecture Performance Legt Vrouwentrauma Bloot.” Theaterkrant, 2017. www.theaterkrant.nl/recensie/cock-cock-whos-there/samira-elagoz/ Last visisted on 23-04- 2018. “Buitenhof” – tv show. Episode dedicated tot he emancipation of men. www.vpro.nl/speel~POMS_AT_13002826~de-emancipatie-van-de-man~.html Last Accessed on 10-04-2018. Chicago, Julie. “Womanhouse, Menstruation Bathroom (site installation)” dome.mit.edu/handle/1721.3/2403 Last visited on 18-05-2018. Clapp, Susannah. “Hamlet review – Maxine Peake is a delicately ferocious Prince of Denmark” The Guardian, 2014. www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/sep/21/hamlet-maxine- peake-royal-exchange-review-delicate-ferocity Last accessed on 29-05-2018. De Rode Hoed - series called “De Schoonheidssalon” www.rodehoed.nl/nl/programma/Series/ Last accessed on 10-04-2018. “Dinner Party: Genesis” Brooklyn Museum. New York. www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/genesis/ Last visited on 18-05-2018. Web.

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Garcia, Sandra E. “The Woman Who Created #MeToo Long Before Hashtags.” The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/us/me-too-movement-tarana-burke.html Last accessed on 15-04-2018. “Jinek” – Talkshow’s web channel dedicated to feminism. evajinek.kro-ncrv.nl/onderwerpen/feminisme-voor-vrouwen-en-mannen Last Accessed on 10- 04-2018. Leeuwerink, Anouk. “Toneeljury kiest Jacob Derwig en Abke Haring” Theaterkrant, 2014. www.theaterkrant.nl/nieuws/jacob-derwig-en-abke-haring-winnen-vscd-toneelprijzen/ Last visited on 29-05-2018. Web. Mac, Taylor. New York based artist. www.taylormac.org/work/ Last visited on 07-06-2018. Manzoor-Khan, Suhaiymah. “This is not a humanizing poem.” The Last Word Festival 2017. www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Sz2BQdMF8 Last accessed on 17-04-2018. Putt, Fransien van der. “Feministisch Exorcisme Anno 2017.” Theaterkrant, 2017. www.theaterkrant.nl/recensie/apollon-musagete/campo-florentina-holzinger/ Last visited on 07-06-2018. Reviews Hamlet vs. Hamlet. http://www.lanoye.be/tom/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/hamlet- vs-hamlet-recensies-1.pdf Last visited on 29-05-2018. Ruehl, Kim. “We Shall Not Be Moved: A Traditional American Folk Song” www.thoughtco.com/we-shall-not-be-moved-traditional-1322516 Last accessed on 07-06- 2018. Schneemann, Carolee. “Interior Scrole” fineartmultiple.com/blog/carolee-schneemann-interior-scroll-masterpiece/ Last visited on 18- 05-2018. Shuttleworth, Ian. “The Roaring Girl’s Hamlet.” City Limits magazine, 1992. www.cix.co.uk/~shutters/reviews/92014.htm A review of this performance by Ian Shuttleworth. Last visited on 29-05-2018. Web. “Sexual selection.” Understanding Evolution. 2018. University of California Museum of Paleontology, 2008. evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/evo_28. Last accessed on 23- 04-2018. “Thy name is woman: female Hamlets from Sarah Bernhardt to Maxine Peake - in pictures” The Guardian, 2014. www.theguardian.com/stage/gallery/2014/sep/26/female-hamlets-sarah-bernhardt-maxine- peake-in-pictures Last visited on 29-05-2018.

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“Volkskrant” - when applying the search term ‘Feminisme’: www.volkskrant.nl/alle-nieuws- over-feminisme/ Last accessed on 10-04-2018. Web. “Vrouwen nu voor later.” A link to the program of the performance, containing a summary and explicit invite for the focus group of the performance: Vrouwen, als het aan ons ligt. www.vrouwennuvoorlater.nl/toneelwerkgroep/ Last visited on 07-06-2018. Web. “Whe shall not be moved the making of – Part one” – Documentary. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MExzmWCSpWoLast accessed on 03-05-2018. “Whe shall not be moved the making of – Part two” – Documentary. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNabwwchxkI Fragment from the documentary Last accessed on 03-05-2018. Web. “Whe shall not be moved the making of – Part three” – Documentary. www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9cVZdZmLYU Last accessed on 03-05-2018. “Whe shall not be moved the making of – Part four” – Documentary. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfkAam2H_6g Last accessed on 03-05-2018.