THE West Yorkshire Playhouse’s new associate company, RashDash, will launch its autumn tour of The Ugly Sisters at the Leeds theatre on September 13 and 14.
The company will use music, physical theatre and dialogue to tackle body image, objectification and sexism in the media in a play inspired by The Object report, Just The Women.
This 2011 report looked at 11 publications over a fortnight and found more than 1,300 pieces of editorial and images that illustrated different forms of sexism.
Further study showed that 66 per cent of teenage girls would consider plastic surgery.
The report found it “common for certain aspects of the press to reproduce unrealistic and often contradictory images of feminine beauty, and then to scrutinise women on the basis of how they conform to these often unattainable ideals”.
RashDash’s play turns Prince Charming’s bride-finding ball into a reality TV show in order to explore why it is acceptable to vilify people based on their looks.
In The Ugly Sisters, sisters Emerald and Pearl are forced to move in with their mum’s weird new husband and are cast aside in favour of their new and perfect step-sister. When they are selected for reality show You Shall Go To The Ball, the sisters try to win back the love of their mother, Prince Frederick and the whole country.
RashDash will be joined by the band Not Now Bernard on strings, drums, keyboards and “violent vocals” to present an anarchic 70-minute play that takes a harsh look at media representations and public approval.
Abbi Greenland, RashDash’s co-director, says: “The Daily Mail sidebar of shame has 52 million monthly users. This is the world where ‘ugly’ is the worst thing you can call a woman. But we don’t want to be princesses. We don’t want to be famous. We don’t want to debate Nigella’s motives for wearing a Burkini on the beach. We just want to stop hearing the same old story.”
Devised and first performed in 2012 by Abbi and company co-founder Alison McDowall and musicians Benny Brooke, Jonas Aaron and Tom Penn at the Edinburgh Fringe, this riotous cabaret-style interpretation of Cinderella is directed by Kyle Davies and designed by McDowall.
The play is suitable for age 14 upwards and the 2013 national tour will run from September 13 to November 10. Dates include The Crucible, Sheffield, on October 5 at 7.45pm; Cast, Doncaster, October 9, 7.45pm; Hull Truck Theatre, October 10, 8pm (box office, 01482 323638 or hulltruck.co.uk); Theatre Royal, Wakefield, November 6, 7.30pm; and Barnsley Civic, November 9, 7.30pm.
Tickets for the 8pm performances at the West Yorkshire Playhouse are on sale on 0113 213 7700 or wyp.org.uk
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