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

Women’s Engineering Society’s 90th birthday

Last month I attended the Women’s Engineering Society (WES – http://www.wes.org.uk/) annual conference and it was good fun and interesting as usual. I love the fact that WES members are of all ages and stages in their careers, working in all fields and with a broad range of politics and interests – it’s not often you have a discussion about the subjunctive over breakfast with a someone who’s just written a science fiction book about a woman engineer! – http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/automatic-lover/2649880

It’s WES’s 90th birthday this year! It was set up just after WW1 to support women who wanted to continue in engineering after the war – having been encouraged into engineering work to ‘help the war effort’ they were then expected to meekly go back to their homes and kitchens, but many had got a taste for the independance and the interesting work. WES has an interesting history – Amy Johnson was President from 1935-7, and it was involved in the Electrical Association for Women (set up in 1924 to encourage women to use electrical apparatuses in the home!).

The opening speaker at the conference was Dr Wendy Schultz, a Futurist – http://www.infinitefutures.com/ - a great speaker and a fascinating talk envisoning possible futures – from the fairly inevitable to the too fantastical.

It was an interesting week of reunions for me. The conference was at Surrey University in Guildford, where I’d got my first (electrical engineering) degree and I’d gone down the previous week for a university reunion there. Why do some people love reunions and others hate them? Is it silly nostalgia or are you taking stock of your own personal, mental archive?

Lynette Willoughby

Stripping the Illusion to be screened at LeedsU

The Leeds Feminist Society will be screening the Object.org film Stripping the Illusion on the 28th of October 7pm in the Peanut Gallery at the Leeds University Union. All
welcome!

To see further info on the Leeds University Feminist Society go here.

First Blog add comments: LESBIAN!

When did “Lesbian” become a rude word? I spent a week at the Edinburgh Festival, mainly for music, but I also attended 5 comedy sessions. In almost all of them the comic would say the word “Lesbian” and everybody would laugh. Laura Solon offered this joke. “If there is no one in a wood and a tree falls down and hits a Lesbian, does that prove they exist” (Cue laughter). Mark Thomas’s joke centred around the fact he had said the word “Lesbian” on breakfast TV. (Gales of laughter) But really all that had to happen was one woman say to another “are you a lesbian?” and everybody laughs. When did this happen and what does it mean?  It’s like a croud of 3 year olds saying “bum” and falling about.

Sandra McNeill

Bolton Women’s Liberation Group comes to FAN

PRESS RELEASE: BOLTON WOMEN MAKE HISTORY
The Women’s Liberation Movement didn’t only happen in London . In the 1970s and 1980s, Bolton had one of the most active Women’s Liberation groups in the country. With the help of a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the records from those days have been gathered together and catalogued and an oral history of the memories of local feminists has been recorded.

On Friday July 31^st, this unique archive will be formally handed over to The Feminist Archive North, based in the Brotherton Library at Leeds University. It will be welcomed by Pro-Vice Chancellor Vivien Jones and Professor Jalna Hanmer.

Professor Hanmer said “This is an important and very welcome addition to our archive. The range of documentation and personal memories covering many years will be of great value to students and researchers in the future.”

The archive contains photographs, play scripts, letters to and from local MPs, newspaper articles, minute books, copies of the Bolton Women’s Health Guide put together in the mid 1970s and much more. Copies of the documents and of the oral history will also be placed in the Bolton Libraries Archive for local people to consult. Some of it is readily available on our web site at: www.bolton-womens-liberation.org and we are compiling a CD for use in local schools and colleges.

FAN on MyLearning

FAN takes you on a Learning Journey!

Volunteers from FAN have contributed a new section to the My Learning partnership. My Learning is a Yorkshire-based effort to place some of the richness of our museums, archives and libraries on the internet for teachers to use as supplementary materials in lessons. You can start our journey, Feminist Activism – Education & Job Opportunities, by clicking here.

Lesbians are Everywhere! 300 years of Lesbian History

To coincide with York Lesbian Arts Festival: York City Archives, the Feminist Archive North and the Northern Older Lesbian Network are hosting an exciting women-only exhibition of original material brought together for the first time to document Lesbian lives in the North of England and beyond.

‘Lesbians are Everywhere!’ brings together unique and rarely seen images that reveal this hidden history for women today. Find out about the secrets of lesbian life in York through the ages; famous
lesbians in history; and the story of lesbian activism from 1969 to today.

Sunday 26th Oct, 10am – 2pm.
York City Archives
Exhibition Square
York  YO1 7EW
Tel. 01904 551 878

York City Archives are in Exhibition Square, five minutes’ from York Minster, next to Bootham Bar, the northern gateway on the city walls. We are about 10 minutes walk from York Railway Station.

Cars can drop off disabled visitors at the main entrance to the Archives. The nearest car park is on Marygate, which is five minutes’ walk and has 350 spaces. Marygate is off Bootham, the A19, which is the main road into York from the north. For more car parking information go to www.yorktraffic.info

There is a ramp to the front entrance with a handrail.  There is one disabled toilet with baby changing facilities on the ground floor of the Art Gallery next door.

Reclaim the Night – Saturday 22nd November, 2008

Plans are already underway for this year’s Reclaim the Night March in London. Marking 5 years since the revival of the March (originally a response to the government urging women to stay at home while the Yorkshire Ripper was at large) this year’s event will be organised by the London Feminist Network and promises to be the largest yet.

Check out the Reclaim the Night website for more detailed information.

Summer 2008 Newsletter hot off the press

Treasures from the archive include
great photographs from
Greenwich Common and Menwith Hill.

newsletter-no3-summer-08

FAN badges for sale

FAN badges are here in all their purple, white and green goodness. They are 1 inch or 2.5 centimetres in diameter and are a fantastic way to show your support and to publicise the archive.Suggested minimum donation is 50p, with all proceeds going to keep your favourite treasure trove of feminist history up and running. To buy one, email us at fa_north@yahoo.co.uk