Showing @ Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh, until 12 March
Bertolt Brecht asked: “why be a man when you can be a success?” And so the identity crisis begins. Linda Griffiths’ Age of Arousal, a co-production between Stellar Quines and the Royal Lyceum Theatre, captures the politically tense time when feminism was on the rise, and women were beginning to recognise their individual identities. Director Muriel Romanes uses Brechtian techniques throughout, pushing the audience beyond the fourth wall and suggesting that the crisis isn’t over yet.
Three sisters (two spinsters and a flirt – Molly Innes, Alexandra Mathie and Hannah Donaldson respectively) enrol at Mary Barfoot’s (Ann Louise Ross) school for typing. Before long, the odd women are forced to question the repression and unhappiness they have resigned themselves to. An introduction to Everard (Jamie Lee) and gin takes them to sexual and social liberation.
Sexed-up and sass-less, forget Carrie Bradshaw, Mary Barfoot doesn’t liberate women with Manolos, but rather practical skills that will see women become part of the workplace. Inspired by George Gissing’s The Odd Women set in Victorian times, Janet Bird’s design is almost timeless: a minimal set with suggested Victorian dress contrasts with the use of projector. Scene changes are lit, have a soundtrack and are titled by typing on the backdrop. You have no choice but to be aware that you are in the theatre. The cast are more ensemble than only performers and the sense that this is a collaborative piece is evident. Griffiths’ script is both poignant and witty; the characters are strong individually and compliment each other well. Internal monologues intertwined with dialogue draw out much of the subtext, and with it, humour. As the dynamic of relationships between the women change, each is forced to assert her own purpose. To be independent, women do not have to strive to be the opposite of ‘woman’, nor do they have to conform to social roles such as housewife, or even power-dressing career-o-holic. There is something to be said for individuality: why conform when you can be a success?