Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven, 8th November

From Susan Croft (thanks, Susan!)

PRESS RELEASE

Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven

40th Anniversary reading:
Toynbee Studios November 8th

First produced at the Drury Lane Arts Lab in 1969, Jane Arden’s VAGINA REX AND THE GAS OVEN proved to be one of the most important examples of the cultural radicalism of the late 1960s. It was also the first theatre work to come out of the Women’s Liberation Movement in Britain.

Originally performed by Sheila Allen and Victor Spinetti (supported by a group of hippies, hanging out at the Arts Lab at the time, as a chorus of Furies), it was directed by Jack Bond with music by Shawn Philips.

The production was an early example of multimedia theatre bringing together on stage, text with film, experimental lighting, music and soundscapes. The abolition of theatre censorship in 1968 allowed performers, writer and director unfettered freedom to shock and assault the audience which it did with full frontal nudity, images of an explicit sexual nature and outspoken language.

Founded by American Jim Haynes, also responsible for establishing the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, the Drury Lane Arts Lab was deemed the hippest most ‘happening’ place in London. Frequented by the likes of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Peter Brook, R D Laing, James Baldwin and Christine Keeler, it presented an endless, 24-hour parade of poetry, music, theatre, art and film.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the staging of Vagina Rex and the Gas Oven, Unfinished Histories Oral History Project is presenting a reading and discussion of the play at Toynbee Studios on Sunday November 8th from 3-6pm.
Readers are to be confirmed. The round-table discussion will be lead by Sheila Allen, Victor Spinetti and Jack Bond. Images and music from the original production and extracts from the recently released BFI DVD of three Jane Arden films will also be on display.

Date: Sunday, November 8th
Venue: Court Room, Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street,
London E1 6AB
Time: 3 – 6 pm
Tickets (£8/£6) available from: http://www.artsadmin.co.uk or 020 7650 2350

The event is produced by Unfinished Histories, the project set up by archivist Susan Croft and director/voice coach Jessica Higgs documenting alternative theatre in Britain from 1968-88 through oral history interviews and the collection of archive material.
Over 20 extensive interviews have already been made. Interviewees include: Hilary Westlake (Lumiere and Son), Noel Greig (Brighton Combination, General Will, Gay Sweatshop, Theatre Centre), Albert Hunt (Bradford Art College), Jim Haynes (Drury Lane Arts Lab, Traverse Theatre), Nabil Shaban (Graeae) and designer Andrea Montag (Monstrous Regiment, Half Moon). Also Sheila Allen and Natasha Morgan (That’s Not It, People Show) whose interview material was used on the BFI’s Jane Arden DVD.

For further details of the event or Unfinished Histories please contact Jessica Higgs on 020 7359 7848 or jessica@unfinishedhistories.com
General Unfinished Histories information via http://www.unfinishedhistories.com

Thursday, October 8th, 2009