Written by: Wendy (@Wendyfer1)TheSpace @ Venue 45, Edinburgh
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Flying High Theatre Company, a Youth Theatre organisation from Nottingham, aims to educate and assist aspiring performers up to the age of nineteen taking GCSEs, A Levels or other qualifications in Dance or Drama. Enter The Woods, only one of their endeavours at the fringe this year, is described as an exploration of the ‘darker side of stories and real-life happenings’.
Although my first impression from the fringe guide was that
the piece was site-specific, I eventually realised it was taking place indoors
- a mild disappointment, but my mistake. Unfortunately, the performance itself
was a greater disappointment. The structure of the piece made it appear amateur.
The naturalistic dialogue, fantastical story-telling, abstract ensemble work,
physical theatre and occasional choral singing did not blend well: it was
clunky and the seams were clearly visible between the separate stories. Nevertheless,
a few of the dancers showed promising grace.
Aside from faults with form and style, there are some
serious issues with the content that need to be addressed. I suspect one
section of the performance was heavily inspired by the film A Company of Wolves, but if so the story
was misunderstood. The subject is a girl’s sexual awakening, yes, but that does
not come about through attempted rape. In Enter
The Woods, a girl is assaulted by a crazed wolf-man, another of which then "saves" her. This second wolf then immediately manipulates her into having sex
with him instead, something she accepts with enthusiasm. Somehow, she doesn’t
even appear to be traumatized. Unless I’m very much mistaken, there is even a
cheap "what big… er… ears you have" joke thrown in.
My problem with this is very simple: victims of sexual
assault do not recover quickly. It can take years, not 3 seconds. In a later
scene, while a random pair of psychotic sadists torture some animals for
funsies, the wolves declare themselves ‘civilised’ in comparison; odd, because
I don’t consider rapists to be civilised.
The use of sexual assault as a plot device in this
production was insensitive, irresponsible and unnecessary. If a show contains
scenes of sexual violence there should always be a warning and in this case
there was none. I should clarify that I am not advocating censorship, merely
sensitivity and awareness of who might be in your audience. You wouldn’t take a
shell-shocked soldier to see Explosion the Musical.
I do not want to discourage the people involved from
continuing to make theatre, but I hope they will continue with acknowledgement
of the responsibility that comes with tackling serious themes: the
responsibility to educate yourself, analyse thoroughly, justify and empathize.
This production has finished its run.
2 comments:
It appears the reviewer has totally misunderstood the play. The Wolf seduction scene was derived from the poem Little Red Cap which shows a dark interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood. The sex between her and the final wolf is also consensual and therefore not rape.
Thankyou for your response, criticism is always appreciated.
The connection with this poem was not something I was aware of, I apologise for associating the piece with the wrong thing. However, A Company of Wolves is also a dark interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood focused around a girl’s sexual awakening and the myths or lies she has been told by society because of her gender. There is a very strong connection between the film and that scene which you should view as an enhancement to the piece.
I am aware that the sex between the girl and the second wolf is consensual. I was not trying to claim it was rape, despite the fact that it seemed manipulative. My issue was with the fact that the girl happily agreed to consensual sex with the second wolf mere seconds after another had attempted to rape her. This shows or at least implies a lack of knowledge about the effect attempted rape can have on a person. It was insensitive and irresponsible.
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