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Dusa, Fish, Stas & Vi
Presented by the Margaret River Theatre Group
Friday, April 19 @ 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Four determinedly “liberated” – and very different – women ricochet around a tiny shared flat, while trying to pull together the shattered strands of their lives.
The flat belongs to Fish, an admirer of Rosa Luxemburg who is deeply involved with leftwing politics (not to mention her fellow activist, Alan). Fish has turned the flat into a haven for women – Dusa, a mother in the throes of a messy divorce, Vi a zany “flower child” who withdraws into Zen, pills and starvation diets, and working-class Stas, who is determined to go places and will sell her body to do so.
Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi may be almost 40 years old, but the struggle it depicts continues: women who are exploring sisterhood, transforming their sexual relationships with men, wrestling with what it means to be a mother, and confronting the possibility that a price might be exacted for their independence.
If that sounds dry, it’s not. There are moments of delirious joy and laughter. It’s certainly not a play for the light-hearted, but it’s a truthful and fearless journey there.
Pam Gems was one of the new wave of women playwrights in the 1970’s, and became successful with a wide range of plays on women’s issues. Written with great honesty, which drew criticism from some feminists for its negative portrayal, this production showed how, despite the new sense of empowerment enjoyed by women, they remained vulnerable in contemporary society, summed up by the famous line ‘We won’t do as they want any more, and they hate it. What are we to do?’
Doors open at 6pm.
