Sistershow Revisited

Feminism in Bristol, 197375

D-M Withers

• Publisher: HammerOn Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781910849224
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Historia
• Subtopic: Mujeres en la historia

Sistershow Revisited uses the antics of a Bristol-based theatre group to tell the history of feminism in Bristol 1973–75.

Based on the Heritage Lottery Funded exhibition of the same name, it contains colour photographs, archival material, originalarticles and commentary.

Sistershow

Sistershow was a feminist theatre and arts group that used humour and mischief to mobilise social change. Women’s everyday experiences were the starting point for their sketches, most of which were improvised. They didn’t use scripts because they worried about forgetting the words on stage. Contemporary stories about women’s experiences also needed to be quickly invented. Unruly and anarchic, disorganised and confrontational, Sistershow used theatre as a strategy to raise feminist consciousness, whether on the street or a more traditional stage. The group pushed boundaries and occupied the explosive point where art and politics meet. They had no one leader but activated audiences with their heady mixture of song-dance-drama-poetry-agitprop feminism.

Sistershow Revisited is this story, brought up to date for the 21st Century because we cannot afford to let those women’s histories be lost. As Alison Rook, a Sistershow member, said: “The saddest thing about Sistershow is, like every theatrical thing, it’s ephemeral. Once it’s over, it’s gone.”

From 1973-1975, Sistershow were as central to the Bristol WLM as the Family Allowances or Women’s Abortion and Contraception Campaign. Yet these supposedly serious aspects of feminist history are often the ones that get remembered, if indeed they are remembered at all.

It is hard to pin down how many Sistershow performances there were. This is because many of them took place spontaneously, leaving no trace of pre-meditated intention or evidence they ever happened, similar to a contemporary flashmob.

“We’d often do a march and Jackie and Pat would turn up at the end and do a performance. I don’t think it was planned. If you saw it, you saw it. If you didn’t, you didn’t” (Dale Wakefield).

However, from the documents we do have, we can say with certainty that these performances did, or like Sistershow Edinburgh, didn’t happen.

•Sistershow (Bower Ashton, 12 and 13 March 1973)

•Sistershow Too (at the WLM conference, Bristol, 14 July 1973)

•Sistershow Free (at the Almost Free Theatre, London 9 December 1973)

•Sistershow Bath (4 May 1974)

•Sistershow: The Woman Machine (at the Winston Theatre, Bristol, 11 and 12 December 1974)

•Sistershow Edinburgh, (August 1974 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, didn’t take place).

•The first Sistershow (Bower Ashton)

History of Bristol Feminism 1969-1974

The activities of the Bristol WLM, like the wider UK movement it was part of, were multiple. The group organised campaigns, such as the Women’s Abortion and Contraception Campaign and the Family Allowance Campaign; held consciousness raising and theory discussion groups; did out-reach work with more conservative women’s organisations, such as the Felton Young Wives Club and the Bristol Coffee Pot Club; wrote, collated, edited and printed a collective journal called Enough; set up a Women’s Centre that held pregnancy testing and later became an ad hoc women’s refuge; organised a large, national conference in July 1973; and, of course, were engaged in political activities that encompassed the creative arts and spread the message of Women’s Liberation throughout Bristol and the wider community.

The Bristol feminist movement began in 1969. It evolved from the National Joint Action Campaign for Women’s Equal Rights, an equal pay campaign started by militant trade unionist women who had taken part in the Ford sewing machinist strike at Dagenham from June-July 1968. The first Bristol meeting arranged for a coach to take women to attend the national protest march that took place in London on 18 May 1969. The meeting was well supported by women’s organisations and trade unions. But unfortunately, the promised coach never materialised.

A second meeting followed, organised by Ellen Malos and Lee Cataldi. The meeting was called for 7pm, but by 7.25pm no one had turned up. Lee suggested that they go to the pub, but Ellen said: “Let’s wait five minutes.” Those five minutes were pivotal. At 7.30pm, Pat VT West and Monica Sjoo arrived, both of whom were single mothers and wanted to do some campaigning. The meeting took place and the Bristol WLM was born. Another meeting followed the week after. It focused on the issue of equal pay, work conditions and public campaigning. The following week they would meet to allow more women to discuss their lives. Campaigns developed from these consciousness-raising sessions, and subsequent meetings alternated between these two types of gatherings.

Women’s Liberation in Bristol began to grow. Eventually, it became incredibly complex. Groups would meet every night in somebody’s house, discussing a range of issues. In December 1972, there were 113 women on the Bristol Women’s Liberation Group Address list; 144 in January 1974; and 200 by January 1976.

Social and political history of 1970s

Historians often remember the early 1970s in Britain as a time of intense social, political and economic crisis. It was the time when “the lights went out”, as miners went on strike for better pay, leading to mass fuel shortages and the three-day week. The economy went into a severe recession with unemployment rising to 1 million in 1972, a modest figure by today’s standards (2.5 million in January 2011). Women had greater control over their fertility, because modifications to the 1967 Family Planning Act stated that the Pill could be offered to all unmarried women. Conflict raged in Northern Ireland as communities were torn apart by continuous violence. It was the time of the permissive society; popular pornography and topless Page 3 models became household names. Race relations continued to be volatile as new laws curbed post-war immigration to Britain. It was also a time when many women began to question their purpose in life and worked together to transform their opportunities.

Feminist and alternative theatre in the early 1970s

Women’s Liberation activists in the early 1970s were influenced by agitprop theatre. Sheila Rowbotham notes how “the convergence of personal life and politics in the Women’s Liberation Movement brought new themes into women’s theatre”.⁵

Agitprop, which is a combination of the words ‘agitation’ and ‘propaganda’, was a theatrical method used to explore political issues and themes. It could be performed anywhere – on the street, stage, in workers’ canteens, or used as a warm-up for political meetings. It was also known as a revue: a form of theatre that includes sketches, cabaret, songs and dance.

In the early 1970s, the theatrical Gay Liberation Movement influenced Women’s Liberationists. For example, the Women’s Street Theatre Group and Gay Street Theatre Group joined up to protest the annual and national Miss World contest, which was famously disrupted before millions of TV viewers in 1970. The Women’s Street Theatre Group would later perform the play Sugar and Spice in Trafalgar Square, London, after the first National Women’s Liberation March on International Women’s Day 1971. Their performance paraded giant sanitary towels and deodorant cans, presenting what theatre historian Susan Croft describes as a “grotesque enlargement and mockery of feminine stereotypes”.⁶

Sistershow should also be seen in the context of other alternative theatre in the 1960s and 1970s. It was a time when there was an “overflowing of surreal creative energy which engaged very directly with the public”.⁷

The first Sistershow (Bower Ashton)

The first Sistershow took place on 12 and 13 March 1973. It is the most well documented and well-attended Sistershow event. Approximately 600-1,000 people saw it over two nights, with 300-500 being turned away due to fire regulations. “’Let them all in - I want them spilling out of the aisles,’ screamed Beverly Skinner (they were already),” Helen Taylor remarked in Enough.⁸

Dominic Thrupp, son of Jackie Thrupp, remembers: “The atmosphere was really good, really fun. I remember it being packed out and people not being able to get in, it was really well received, something quite special as an event.”

The show had favourable media coverage, too, with publicity from the Bristol Evening Post, Radio Bristol, BBC and HTV television, among others.

The first Sistershow was held at Bristol Polytechnic’s Faculty of Art and Design Theatre, Bower Ashton (now renamed as the University of the West of England). There was a free bus that took people to and from the city centre on both nights, making it easier for audiences to attend. The handbill described the night as:

entertainment with a difference. It’s the first show ever to appear in Bristol produced, presented and acted by women – even if we did have a little help from our male friends. Enjoy an extravaganza of feminist music, songs, dance, paintings, theatre – and surprises. Come prepared to be entertained, amused and startled – and see what Women’s Liberation means to us.

The first Sistershow was much more than a straightforward show. It was a total feminist experience, fusing art, entertainment and information. In the art gallery adjoining the theatre, Monica Sjoo and Beverly Skinner displayed their paintings that were celebrating women’s mystical power and stre...