Ovariacting: A Period Drama
Jamie Boiskin
The Butterfly Club
3 April 2019
The Butterfly Club
to 7 April
comedyfestival.com.au
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| Jamie Boiskin |
Ever walked into someone's bathroom to see the sink filled with underwear soaking in reddy brown water with a few clots on the surface?
That face you're making. Hold it and look in a mirror. At 23, Jamie Boiskin's had enough of people making "that face" and has taken on the role of being a menstrual activist. And activism is always best in the form of musical cabaret.
Why are women's menstrual cycles still such taboo? My mother called pads "unmentionalbles" when I got my first period. Is there anyone who menstruates who doesn't have at least one humiliating memory of bleeding all over something. And why do women still make that face? It's not like most of us haven't wiped a splatter of blood off the wall when we've removed a tampon or cup and know the routine of "rinse in cold water, Sard's Wonder Soap, soak".
Jamie's had enough of it. She also has endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome. That means bleeding for weeks instead of days. And pain*. She talks about the pain, but she's describing it in ways that make people feel comfortable. Her angry uterus's ovaries covered in cysts are are what got me. Even if the cysts are fluffy pink pompoms and her uterus is Alice Albon.
She's also joined by Louise Cumming as a giant emergency tampon and her musical director Thomas Bradford on the piano, who stands in for all men as he becomes a proud menstrual activist.
Jamie mixes her personal story with that of all of us – even if you don't menstruate, you spent a few months in a uterus. With jam, red paint, song and dance, she talks about condescending gynecologists who are no help, has a Bunnings colour chart for discharge, brings originality to the obligatory "if men had periods" jokes, and touches on issues like what happens when you can't afford or access hygiene products.
It's time to be angry. It's time to make a song and dance about menstruation and make discussions about periods as natural as menstrual cycles. Imagine walking to the bathroom at work without hiding your "product". Imagine going to the loo at a friend's house and not having to think about flushing a tampon because there isn't a bin. Imagine girls in third world countries not dropping out of school because of menstrual shame. Imagine women not getting ill and dying from infections because their hygiene isn't a priority.
I wish I'd seen a show like this when I was a teenager.
And don't get me started about why we don't talk about perimenopause.
*I can't describe the pain of endometriosis; I don't have it. I suspect it's like the worst period cramps and then some. I once tried to describe cramps to a male friend who thought my telling him I was in pain was a joke. Imagine a hand gently cupping your karen's handful (Hannah Gadsby's suggested name if testicles had been named by women); it feels ok, but the anticipation of what could happen is constant. Now, imagine the pressure of that grip slowly increasing. It goes from "I could enjoy this in the right consensual space" to "Ok, that's enough" to "Stop" to "FFS, stop!" to looking around because you feel like you're going to pass out. Then the pressure releases and the still-painful stages back to gentle cupping are a relief. Then the pressure starts again. Now move that pain a few inches up and in.
