Girl Talk

A fierce, riotous, nuanced circus/verbatim theatre work that uses text and physical language to lift up and empower women and girls.

The title ‘Girl Talk’ diminishes the female perspective, categorising it as inconsequential for men. This work will undermine and challenge this. It will amplify the female voice and displaying the physical strength and capabilities of the female body, challenging notions of ‘the weaker sex’ and constraints of
femininity.

Girl Talk juxtaposes circus with interviews and speeches by women that powerfully articulate the ways in which women are and have been undervalued, abused and exploited in our society.

I have been working in collaboration with Meredith Kitchen (Associate Director, South Australian Circus Centre) and Zebastian Hunter (Artistic Director, Circus Monoxide, NSW) on this project, and we refined the initial concept at a digital residency with Merrigong Theatre supported by Performing Lines in late 2020.

In 2022, Meredith worked with performers on a creative development. It created a soundtrack incorporating recordings of iconic women speaking about their experiences and more broadly about misogyny, and this soundtrack underscores the physical performances of the circus artists.

In early 2023, I interviewed women and non-binary people to contribute a range of voices to the project.

Further funding applications and developments will follow – it will likely be a year or two before the work is ready.