Feminist Futures? Theatre, Performance, Theory (review)

Those committed to feminist theatre might take issue with the interrogative nature of this book's title, expecting perhaps a "post-feminist" disavowal of the importance of performance by women or a nostalgic lament for the past, when feminist theatre was a more vital force. This book has at its core a far more important project: to question whether feminism remains a significant movement in the theatre today or even if it is a useful or legitimate way to look at theatre. For those interested in women and performance, it is an absolutely critical book, simultaneously acknowledging feminism's decreased visibility in theatre (and by extension society) and insisting that now is the time not simply to celebrate feminist theatre but to interrogate it.

In their introduction, "Feminist Futures and the Possibilities of 'We,'" Aston and Harris expertly map out the difficult terrain. They consider feminism not as a failed project but as a fraught one and confront head-on the difficulty of universalizing or categorizing art and society along gender lines. To this end, they question to what extent second-wave feminism functioned as a largely white and middle-class movement, exclusionary even as it embraced the empowerment of women. The book, therefore, explores the possibility that feminism might in fact be damaging for women. They also question the assumption that, when gender is performed, it is a necessarily progressive or resistant activity. In short, everything is on the table, and no comfortable assumptions about feminism are made, even though both Aston and Harris are the authors of important books engaging with feminism and theatre. Janelle Reinelt sums up many of the important issues surrounding this book in her article, "Navigating Postfeminism: Writing out of the Box": "[n]ot only is there the question of whether or not playwrights self-identify as feminist, but also the responsibility of theatre scholars to characterize the contemporary context carefully and honestly. However, the 'contemporary context' is precisely one in which it is not clear what the term 'feminism' designates" (17). By asking the initial question, Aston and Harris engender further ones that can only add to our understanding of women, theatre, and the intersections between them.

The book considers viewpoints from practitioners and academics from different generations, acknowledging that "feminism" is a term that carries different meanings depending on the context. It is important to note that Feminist Futures? is also a product of a practice-based research project called "Women's Writing for Performance." The project aims to bring together a variety of practitioners and academics in order to consider the way in which writing and writing practices call attention to or deconstruct gender. The book is thoroughly grounded in the theory and practice of a multitude of voices, reflecting the unfixed nature of feminism.

Several of the articles collected in this book offer a sustained consideration of the significance of feminism in/and theatre, continuing the work of Aston and Harris's introduction. Janelle Reinelt writes of the difficulty of claiming work such as Caryl Churchill's recent plays or the work of Sarah Kane for feminism, negotiating an uneasy relationship with post-feminism. Sue-Ellen Case deals with feminism's memories and hopes, gesturing toward an uncertain future. Elaine Aston's "Bad Girls and Sick Boys" engages with contemporary writers outside of the feminist theatre "canon," demonstrating the different concerns of theatre by women. Practitioners also directly negotiate their relationship with feminism. For example, Leslie Hill and Helen Paris of the performance group Curious confront their own uncertainty over whether or not they are a feminist company, ultimately embracing the term. Aston, Harris, and Lena Šimić weave together a text in which Aston and Harris reflect on a women's theatre festival from an academic standpoint, whereas Šimić "interrupts" with awkward and important questions from the perspective of an artist and a postgraduate student negotiating her own relationship with feminism. An interview with a multigenerational group of New York theatre practitioners...