The first idea we played around with was to stare at our reflection for a certain length of time, this was to represent women focusing on their femininity. Through this task we want to show how “a woman is required to develop of fashion a self-image that others will find attractive. She must observe and evaluate herself, scrutinizing every detail of herself as though she were an outside judge” (Blood, 2005, 46).

The idea of using mirrors is a tricky one as “talking about mirrors often releases a bundle of contradictions for women: a need to check how we look, in spite of ourselves” (Aston, 1999, 59). We want to show throughout our performance how women are perceived as vain for checking how they look when they pass a mirror but how they feel the need to through the control of the male gaze.

During our rehearsal time we completed the task of looking at ourselves for 10 minutes which we found quite hard. We didn’t have anyone walk in during this time which made it easier to focus. When we performed this as a work-in-progress to Ally, Juliette removed her shoes and I put on high heels, this was to represent and contradict femininity.

The next time we work in the space we will use berries as make-up, inspired by Bobby Baker.

Works Cited:

Aston, E, (1999) Feminist Theatre Practice A Handbook. London: Routledge

Blood, S., K. (2005) Body Work The social construction of women’s body image. East Sussex: Routledge.