PORTFOLIO
THE WANDERING WOMBS OF HYSTERICAL WOMEN
(Feb 13th 2024)
"Hilarious"
"Thoroughly thought provoking"
"Absolutely genius!"
Are you suffering from nervousness? A loss of appetite for food or sex? Fluid retention? Don’t worry dear, take a seat in our office, we’ve got just the thing.
The Wandering Wombs of Hysterical Women tells the story of three male doctors, on a search for the cure for female hysteria. An illness created by men, treated by men, and now being explained by men. From hysterical suffocation, a gentle massage from a very eager doctor, or even a full hysterectomy, join us as we explore how far these men will go to maintain their medical pride.
This work-in-progress production was performed at the Glitch, London, in February 2024.
Vanilla
(June 15th 2023)
"Best piece of work to date"
"Sassy, funny but important"
"It should be seen and heard by the world"
Unexciting, Uninspiring, Unadventurous. Did you even watch Fifty Shades of Grey? Vanilla is a testimony of young womanhood as we try to navigate our way in the land of the (sexually) free, walking the fine line of pleasure, pain, and the fear of being boring. Through spoken word, song, and verbatim we explore the performance of sex, from our influence of porn to the blurred lines of consent, and the difficulty of setting boundaries. Is being Vanilla really an insult, or are we just afraid of the ordinary?
We performed our first-ever sharing of this work-in-progress at A Pinch Of Vault in June, in The Glitch - Spacement.
We asked for audience feedback and gathered some really exciting and thoughtful responses. Since then, we have made plans to develop this show further, which is soon to be announced.
Roast Beef
(January 27th 2023)
Fur Coat No Knickers' "Roast Beef" photography installation in partnership with photographers Anaya East and Katie Fisher was
featured as a pop-up during the Vulvaplicity event.
"Vulvaplicity is a queer-led platform that explores feminism, gender, sexuality, and body politics. We use creative expression as a mode of destabilising heteronormative and cis-normative behaviour as well as to give space to topics that are often taboo within cultural and social parameters."
We also featured our short film "Sour Cherries" alongside this work which provided another layer of commentary into the point we were making with this project.
"Roast Beef" is an exploration into the persistent judgment of people with Vulvas. Exploring how and why they are made to feel embarrassed and worthless solely based on the shape, size, and composition of their vulvas.
We aimed to confront this immature ridicule by articulating through photos the vulgar nature of the stereotypes, myths, and “jokes” intended to shame and belittle a woman’s self-worth in relation to her body.
Sour Cherries (August 19th 2022)
Sour Cherries is a short film produced at the Au Brana Creative Development Residency (ABCD Residency, 2022) in France, which took place in mid-August.
We wrote, devised, and filmed Sour Cherries within 10 days, collaborating with the other company in residence at Au Brana. We held a digital premiere through our youtube channel for audiences to watch at home.
Sour Cherries is an exploration of virginity – as a social construct, a set of rules, and an insult. We investigate its regular comparison to all that blooms and ripens, such as fruit and flowers. We used the ten days at Au Brana to explore these themes through practical research stimulated by real-life experiences.
This work not only served as a vehicle to discuss a thought-provoking topic but also developed our collaborative working style. This project brought us closer as a company and tested our ability to produce quality work under time pressure.
Waking The Witch
(May/October 2022)
Lisa Lapidge, brad high & Fur Coat No Knickers Theatre
Waking The Witch addresses contemporary violence against women, evoking the witch trials of Early Modern England. It uses principles of shape-shifting, time walking, and saturated resonance in its invocations and incantations.
These work-in-progress performances formed part of the practice as a research component of Lisa Lapidge's Ph.D. which focused on physiologically effective responses to voice in performance. Fur Coat No Knickers worked in partnership on this project to develop work that was thought-provoking and vocally visceral.
We hoped to leave our audience in a state of discomfort, anger, and curiosity. Inviting them to consider the challenges women still face as a result of a long line of violence against women throughout history.
The first phase of development was in May at East 15, Southend-on-sea, the second in mid-October in the church space of East 15, Southend-on-sea, and the most recent version was developed for Royal and Derngates GenFest in Northampton.
Not All Men
(May 8th 2021)
"A thought provoking production."
Fur Coat No Knickers Theatre, UON
Not All Men was a short film created for the Flash Fringe Theatre Festival 2021. The film focuses on three women trying to navigate their bad experiences - not as easy as they first thought. The Virago group goes through a journey of anger, alcohol, and bad decisions while searching for a way to cope.
In this explorative film, we spoke on the topics of gender, empowerment, sexual harassment, self-blame, and how the responsibility to prevent harassment lies on all people regardless of gender.
Laced
(2022)
Fur Coat No Knickers Theatre, UON
We performed in a showcase organised for Alumni and students from our course at UON, which took place at The New Diorama Theatre on the 29th of April.
We wrote and devised a 5-minute piece from scratch using stimuli from newspapers and online articles around the topic of spiking and sexual harassment.
To portray an honest, well-rounded perspective on these horrific events, we gathered testimonies from each other, from news articles, and from our online following.
We had a lot of fun taking on this quick devising process and we are very grateful to the University of Northampton and The New Diorama Theatre for hosting us at this event.