Since it was first written, the play has been adapted and added to and now comes to Brisbane for a staging by THAT Production Company.
“It's a very episodic play that basically has a lot of women in it and different stories about their experiences with their vaginas. It's a really beautiful play, you should definitely see it at least once in your lifetime, every woman should,†explains Cassandra Ramsay, the director of this new production.
“It's one of those rare plays that has so many humorous and tragic parts to it and we thought it would be really good for us to do a contemporary play.â€
The monologues that make up this play explore a variety of themes such as rape, birth, menstruation and orgasm, with each of the three actors on stage presenting a number of different monologues on the theme.
“The monologues I have are 'Hair', 'The Little Coochie Snorcher That Could' and 'The Woman That Liked to Make Vaginas Happy'. Each of the girls plays about three or four different women and it's an ensemble piece as well so we don't have any one set character that we play,†explains Charleen Marsters, one of the actors performing in this production.
For an outsider this may seem like a challenging and even uncomfortable experience for an actor, but Marsters has learnt much from the experience so far.
“I think that it's been very liberating, because you get to be the one to bring this to the forefront of everyone's conversations. Also, I think I became more aware of my relationship with my vagina, if that makes sense?â€
'The Vagina Monologues' is Ramsay's directorial debut and she has had an exciting but challenging experience with this play.
“There are so many fine lines in this play that I have to be really careful that I'm not offending people and that the actresses are really comfortable. While it still has a message, it is really important that it's entertaining and that it reaches men as well as women.â€
‘The Vagina Monologues’ plays at the Twelth Night Theatre March 16-20.