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Taboo no more

By Noah Buchan
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Mar 07, 2008, Page 13

Tonight's English-language performance of A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer, and next week's Mandarin-language performances of The Vagina Monologues are part of V-Day Taiwan's ongoing efforts to raise awareness of women's issues PHOTO: COURTESY OF V-DAY TAIWAN

Nothing raises eyebrows in Taiwan quite like references to female genitalia.

But over the past four years, women's groups, theater directors and actresses have drawn attention to the taboo subject with V-Day Taiwan and its headline show, a production of Eve Ensler's hit play The Vagina Monologues. Starting tonight, the play and a number of other events are being staged to raise awareness of women's rights.

Two Chinese-language performances will be performed next weekend at Taipei City Hall Family Theater. Other events scheduled to commemorate V-Day, now in its 10th year, include a staged reading of The Vagina Monologues author Eve Ensler's anthology A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer, tonight and tomorrow at the Xinyi Citizen Assembly Hall (信義公民會館). Proceeds from the V-Day events will go to three local charities.

"There is no English-language production [of the play] this year so we are having an [English-language] reading from A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer," said Betsy Lan (藍貝芝), who directed the Chinese-language version of The Vagina Monologues in 2005 and 2007 and is one of this year's organizers.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF V-DAY TAIWAN

She said that continuing the tradition of an English-language performance is important because many V-Day supporters hail from the expat community.

Nancy Chen (陳亮君), the play's Taipei director, said The Vagina Monologues helps women explore their sexuality in an environment free of guilt and embarrassment.

Tonight's English-language performance of A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer, and next week's Mandarin-language performances of The Vagina Monologues are part of V-Day Taiwan's ongoing efforts to raise awareness of women's issues. PHOTO: COURTESY OF V-DAY TAIWAN

But the official Mandarin-language version takes a conservative approach to the work and reduces the impact of the original, she said.

Holly Harrington, director of A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer agreed.

"The ideas are very western-focused and the Chinese translation … doesn't have the same punch," she said.

It is necessary to localize the script to appeal to the sensitivities of a particular country, Harrington said.

"If you try to do the 'cunt' piece in Chinese it doesn't fully capture the feeling of the original," she said referring to one of the more explicit monologues.

Tonight's English-language performance of A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer, and next week's Mandarin-language performances of The Vagina Monologues are part of V-Day Taiwan's ongoing efforts to raise awareness of women's issues PHOTO: COURTESY OF V-DAY TAIWAN

Still, the play's themes resulted in Chinese censors banning the Mandarin-language version in Shanghai four years ago. Chinese authorities, however, allow the English-language version to be performed.

Ironically, the official Mandarin version of the original, on which the Taipei performance is based, was translated by Nick Yu (喻榮軍), an academic and dramaturge living in Shanghai.

Tonight's English-language performance of A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer, and next week's Mandarin-language performances of The Vagina Monologues are part of V-Day Taiwan's ongoing efforts to raise awareness of women's issues. PHOTO: COURTESY OF V-DAY TAIWAN

Chen, in conjunction with the 13 actresses performing the play, slightly altered Yu's translation to make it more faithful to the original.

The Vagina Monologues condenses some 200 interviews Ensler conducted with women about their vaginas, sexuality and their stories of violence and sexual abuse. It consists of 17 monologues on topics ranging from pubic hair and masturbation to rape and giving birth. The women interviewed for the play hail from all walks of life, including prostitutes and women living on the street.

Tonight's English-language performance of A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer, and next week's Mandarin-language performances of The Vagina Monologues are part of V-Day Taiwan's ongoing efforts to raise awareness of women's issues. PHOTO: COURTESY OF V-DAY TAIWAN

A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer, commissioned in 2006 by V-Day International and edited by Ensler, follows the themes found in The Vagina Monologues and collects the writings of world-renowned figures.

"The reading has never been done [in Taiwan] before. Some of the essays are written by men - which is different from The Vagina Monologues," Harrington said.

She said the cast of three men and eight women hail from the Philippines, Canada, the US, the Netherlands and Taiwan.

Performance notes What: V-Day Taiwan: The Vagina Monologues and A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer When and where: Readings from A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer are tonight and tomorrow at 7pm at Xinyi Citizen Assembly Hall (信義公民會館), Hall D, 56 Songqin St, Taipei City (台北市松勤街56號D館); Performances of The Vagina Monologues are next Friday, March 14, and Saturday, March 15, at Taipei City Hall Family Theater (台北市親子劇場), 2F, 1 Shifu Rd, Taipei City (台北市市府路一號二樓) Tickets: NT$300 for A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer and NT$500 for The Vagina Monologues. Tickets are available through ERA ticketing On the Net: www.vdaytaiwan.org.tw

The play's immense popularity prompted Ensler to start the V-Day movement in 1998 to raise awareness about sexual assault and violence against women. For V-Day, women - and sometimes men - from around the world perform Ensler's controversial play close to Valentine's Day and give the proceeds to assist women's charities.

Ninety percent of the proceeds from the V-Day events will go to Taiwan Women's Link, Taipei Association for the Promotion of Woman's Rights and International Campaign to End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism. The remaining 10 percent will go to V-Day International.

In 2007, more than 3,000 V-Day benefit events took place around the world. The movement has funded over US$6 million in projects and educated millions about the issue of violence against women and girls and the efforts to end it.

Lan said past performances of The Vagina Monologues were met with enthusiasm.

"For local audiences it was quite liberating, because at the end of the performance we had the audience shout out the word vagina," she said.

Interview with Nancy Chen (陳亮君), director of The Vagina Monologues:

Taipei Times: V-Day is about raising awareness of violence against women. How can The Vagina Monologues help reduce violence against women?

Nancy Chen: I think the only way to reduce violence against women is to unite women. Only then will we have enough voices to change the current situation.

TT: How is this year's Vagina Monologues different from previous years?

NC: I have been thinking about how the show can be more localized. This year we couldn't find an English [-speaking] director to direct the English [-language] performance so the troupe decided that the performances would be in Chinese. So I worked with my actresses to change the script a bit - the language, the translation - and to do a wording that is closer to daily life.

TT: Did you change the translation yourself?

NC: I worked with the actresses who play the roles.

TT: How did you approach it? How did you come up with the ideas?

NC: For example, a female homeless person - the actress who plays this role is concerned about this issue and volunteers with homeless people. She will go and provide them with clothes and something they need. We discussed the characteristics of homeless people a lot and then we changed the language of the character. So it becomes fragmented and distracted and then we looked at the gestures and focused in on the wretchedness of her body. It is never beautiful … it is real.

TT: Is vagina a word commonly used in Taiwan?

NC: No. It's a hidden word. Whenever we talk about it, we say 'down there' [xia mian (下面)]. In my family we don't talk about it. When we were younger our mothers would tells us to 'clean there.' But when we grow up we seldom talk about it.

TT: Why do people feel uncomfortable with the word vagina?

NC: It has a stigma in this culture - and Western culture.

TT: What is the stigma here?

NC: The vagina is dirty and anything related to it is dirty. Also the process of childbirth is dirty. In the past women gave birth to a child in their rooms but it was very enclosed and not public. The child's father can't even see the child until it is clean.

TT: How can The Vagina Monologues help to change that impression?

NC: The Vagina Monologues helps us [to do] one very important thing: say it out loud and analyze it by asking why is it dirty and where does that idea come from.

TT: What was your family's response to you directing The Vagina Monologues?

NC: Actually, I haven't let them know.

TT: Why?

NC: Firstly because it's theater and you can't make money in the theater. I spent a lot of time and money studying and they think I need to have another job. They wanted me to become a diplomat! So I will not [mention] my work in the theater.

TT: Will you invite them to see the performance?

NC: No. Some of the actresses participating in this year's Vagina Monologues didn't invite their families to come either. For example one of the women who plays the role of a sex worker didn't ask her father to come, though she let her father know that she is going to play this role. And she is also concerned that if her friends come to the show they might view her differently, negatively.

TT: That seems to contradict the whole purpose of the performance.

NC: Yes, but it happens to each actress.

TT: Why won't you tell your father about it?

NC: This situation is quite common. Other female directors who do this face the same problem. Although my parents are highly educated and they have good jobs, they may not be that open. They have their concerns ...

TT: Have you been able to talk to your mother about the performance?

NC: Recently, because I have been busy rehearsing, I haven't had the time to talk to them. But maybe I will give them the poster. But I will not tell them a lot about what I am doing.

TT: Might there be a way to increase their interest?

NC: Ask them to come to the show.
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