Everybody was talking about vaginas this weekend.
A very talented all-female cast performed Carleton’s annual production of The Vagina Monologues to a packed audience at Porter Hall March 11.
The Vagina Monologues was written by Eve Ensler in 1996 and is based on hundred of interviews with women about their vaginas. The monologues have been translated in 48 languages and have been performed in over 140 countries, according to Ensler’s online biography.
Hard topics were discussed in Carleton’s performance, including rape and spousal abuse. Many audience members physically cringed as the monologues explicitly described the destruction done to women’s vaginas.
Thankfully, this heavy content was balanced with several hilarious monologues in which actors discussed every aspect of vaginas, including society’s problems with pubic hair and even odour. As one actor exclaimed, “It’s supposed to smell like pussy!”
There were also several particularly powerful spoken word pieces.
Notable was Tracy Amponsah’s monologue which opened the show, which had the audience snapping their fingers, nodding their heads and even cheering.
Aside from a sometimes long delay between monologues, the performances themselves were near flawless, with very strong and well-rehearsed acting from almost all cast members.
Although The Vagina Monologues is nothing new, the performance was also kept timely, with a specific piece that discussed the recent increase of rapes in Haiti following the earthquake.
The biggest hit was definitely the final scene of the show, led by a very strong performance from actor Polly Leger. This final scene had women act out various orgasm moans. These ranged from a clitoral moan and vaginal moan all the way to a “Conservative Minister Bev Oda” moan. (Apparently, she was “not” having an orgasm.)
There were several men in the audience, one of which pointed out that before the intermission, the only time their gender was mentioned was to associate them with sexual violence.
However, immediately beginning the second half was a monologue about “a woman who had a positive experience with a man.”
Perhaps this piece should have occurred sooner to prevent alienating the male members of the audience before the intermission.
Yet overall, the performance was refreshingly no-holds-barred and unapologetically explicit. Although it initially might have required the audience some time to adjust to the subject matter, the performance was incredibly entertaining and definitely got everyone talking about their most private parts.
All proceeds from the show went to Eve Ensler’s V-Day Organization, the Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre and the Coalition for a Carleton Sexual Assault Centre.
