Fucking Feminists

Rose Lewenstein

• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781788500616
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

A fiercely funny short play by Rose Lewenstein, investigating what feminism means, and what it has become.

Fucking Feminists was first performed at Theatre503, London, in September 2016, as part of the Acts of Defiance Festival, and was commissioned by Mama Quilla productions.

It was subsequently performed at Hampstead Theatre, London, in November 2016, as part of the Women Centre Stage Festival produced by Sphinx Theatre, demonstrating the range, depth and richness of women's writing for the stage.

The play is also available in Women Centre Stage, a collection of eight short plays selected by Sue Parrish, Artistic Director of Sphinx Theatre. All the plays included in this volume offer a wide variety of rewarding roles for women, and are perfect for schools, youth groups and theatre companies to perform. Other writers included in the collection include Winsome Pinnock, Timberlake Wertenbaker and April De Angelis.

[—] at the start of a line indicates a new voice

[—] mid-sentence indicates a change in thought

[—] at the end of a line indicates being cut off

[—] followed by a blank line indicates a marked silence

Written for an all-female cast of roughly five actors.

Unless explicitly referring to one another, characters address the audience.

Set: a chair.

— This is what a feminist looks like.

— This is what a feminist looks like.

— No. This is what a feminist looks like.

—

— Anyone or anything can be a feminist.

— A she, a he, a they —

— This chair, for example, could be a feminist.

— This chair has feminist qualities.

— It’s a strong chair.

— A good role model for other chairs.

— This Chair Can.

— It is what it is.

— An inanimate object.

— This chair has been built by a person.

— Or assembled in a factory.

— Painted by a person.

— Or sprayed by some sort of machine.

— Someone, somewhere, designed this chair.

— A she, a he, a they —

— And if, for example, the person who designed, built, and/or painted this chair had branded it with, for example, the word Cunt —

— Does anyone here have a problem with the word Cunt?

— Perhaps the chair would like to reclaim the word Cunt.

— No doubt the chair has been in contact with many cunts.

— Perhaps the chair has been called a Cunt and thrown across the room.

— Perhaps its leg fell off.

— Perhaps someone fixed it with wood glue.

— And now it’s fine.

—

—

—

— It is a very fine-looking chair.

— I’m sorry, did the chair ask for your opinion?

— I was paying it a compliment.

— The chair didn’t ask for your opinion.

— The chair is an inanimate object and is therefore incapable of asking for an opinion.

— A person can choose whether or not to objectify herself or himself or themself but this chair has no choice.

—

— Fine. It’s an ugly chair anyway.

—

— Useful but ugly.

— Functional.

— This chair was not built for the male gaze.

— Does that make it a feminist chair?

— I typed hashtag Feminism into Twitter and the first post I saw said: Feminism Is The Desperate Try Of Ugly Women To Become Attractive To Men.

— And yet there are men in this audience and they are looking at this chair.

— They see it as an object.

— Because it is an object.

— But they don’t want to fuck the chair.

— Or maybe they do.

— Does anyone here want to fuck this chair?

—

— To someone, somewhere, this chair is a thing of beauty.

— A thing. Exactly.

— Ugliness is in the eye of the beholder.

— There’s nothing wrong with Ugly.

— The world needs Ugly, otherwise Beauty doesn’t exist.

— Just like Heaven wouldn’t exist without Hel...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Dedication
• Introduction
• Original Production Details
• Fucking Feminists
• The Sphinx Test
• Biography
• Copyright and Performing Rights Information