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Cinderella Lives!
Published on Monday, 02 September 2013
2

2 stars

Venue 13 (venue website)
Theatre
3-11, 13-24 Aug, 8:15pm-9:10pm
Reviewed by Mathilda Gregory

 Recommended for age 14+ only.

Firstly: this show, despite its title, has nothing to do with Cinderella. Nothing at all, at any point. There’s a clock striking 12 and a pumpkin, which appears very briefly and for no reason that seems to be connected to the plot. That does not make a show about Cinderella.

It is also billed as a feminist burlesque lecture. It has nothing to do with any of those things either. If anything, it seems to have misunderstood feminism as being mainly about getting a boyfriend.

This is a show about Eve, a young Bridget Jones type of working woman, who encounters some sexism (mainly a job interview that is blatantly breaking the law) and pines for a boyfriend she dumped in the past. It’s hard to feel very sorry for her – and yet we are expected to, because of feminism. But it’s not feminism. It has nothing to do with feminism. This is just a show about a self-obsessed, privileged woman not getting everything she wants.

And that’s just in the parts that make narrative sense. At one confusing point in the show, Eve dances with a cushion that is meant to be the pill, then stuffs it up her top so it looks like she’s pregnant. So the pill got her pregnant? Er, feminism?

Eve’s flatmate, Alice, is a nasal Australian, who we’re told doesn’t believe in feminism. Actually, Alice’s monologue about how women’s liberation is more the result of industrialisation and technology than politics is the most interesting part of the show. But we are not meant to listen to Alice. No. Shut up, Alice. Alice thinks feminist liberation was bought, which makes her a terrible person. Only the kind of rich, white-lady feminism that Eve likes is allowed here; that’s not up for debate.

Later, Alice turns out to be a man-stealing baddie. It seems she’s happy stealing men because she is not a feminist, which is the most self-interested definition of feminism I’ve ever heard. So, the message of this show seems to be: feminists, look out for women who denounce feminism, they might steal your boyfriend. Oh dear.

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