The Women
A stylish romp from 1936 by Claire Boothe Luce.
A comedy written in 1936 by the indomitable Claire Boothe Luce. Famous for her strength, beauty, wit and quickness of mind Luce was a playwright, editor, war reporter, two time elected congresswoman and US ambassador to Italy. She was also a mother who tragically lost a child, a wife and a divorcee. The Women was her greatest hit which continues to be produced all around the English speaking world and was also made into several different films. In 2018 I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work on The Women with the exceptional third year group of actors at my home theatre at Ryerson School of Performance. (Photos by Pavlo Bossy)
Although this satire was written for a cast of thirty four women I reimagined the play with gender fluid casting. Our show opened up with excerpts from a rehearsal dialogue about sex, gender, right of representation, revisionism, feminism, class, status and race:
“I’m saying that I don’t think that, as a man, I will ever be able to fully understand what women go through, how it feels to be a woman. I don’t think I can ever one hundred percent understand what that’s like.”
“And some of us may be closer to our character than others are, but it’s just about – we’re all approaching this work together, equally, and we all have a task ahead of us to understand this person that we’re playing and as artists that’s our job.”
““I think that we ‘re saying it that you have the freedom to explore and try anything you want but be prepared to be accountable. If anybody does anything that’s offensive, we have a right to say something about it.”
“Being offended is a choice. It’s a freaking satire. We can’t just shove everything under the rug and pretend that these problems don’t exist, but why don’t we have a sense of humor about it. And everyone has to be comfortable exploring.ake it stand out.””
“I’ve never thought of myself as beautiful or attractive to others. I never see myself playing a sexy character with any kind of ease. Sometimes I convince myself it doesn’t matter because sometimes I’m funny but for the most part, despite my core feminist beliefs, I am all too familiar with self-objectification. I see it in how navigate the world.”
”Yes, there is power in this game we’re made to play, but there is also terrible fear and vulnerability. They have yet to experience the pain of not being that girl…I tried to feel like the woman in the black gown and heavy lidded eyes. I want to be her so bad….I want to be every beautiful woman in every magazine.”
”And I think this fear is what is at the heart of how society manages to control women, to make them buy a thousand products to alter themselves to make them compete for the coveted spot of being that girl. I want to be smart, hardworking loyal… but dear God do I wish I was beautiful.”
”I often think about what it would be like to live in a time when women had less rights. As a woman I feel so guilty glamourizing a time when women only had their looks to serve them. And while I know I would hate this as my reality I like to fantasize about it. I guess that’s why I’m an actor.”
“I didn’t have to worry about sounding smart or saying the wrong thing because all I had to feel was beautiful. I couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to have five suitors chatting me in a 1930’s speakeasy.”
