Erin Shields’ “Beautiful Man” does more than just flip gender roles. It exposes the absurdity and the downright mental perversity that we succumb to when adhering to these arbitrary roles. You’re probably thinking, I’ve seen many works that show a world in which women are in power – what’s so different about this one? Well for one, Shields’ discourse is extremely intellectual. She goes deeper into subverting the ideas of gender on stage than anyone I’ve ever seen.
The stage is set up with three bar stools in front of another stage that appears to be a TV screen. On the tall stools, we have three powerful women with strong voices, who have a lot to say, and on the screen stage we have a man in various stages of undress and mute for most of the show. The women are at a bar or at work and are casually chatting about a TV show they’ve been watching. It appears to be a “Law and Order SVU” kind of thing. They talk about the gruesome murder of a beautiful man and the sturdy female detective who falls in love with him, (despite her better judgement), as she investigates the crime. Each powerful woman offers up very poetic and descriptive details about this story. Her monologue flows into the monologues of the other women and creates a bubbling river of pop culture discussion. From start to finish this river flows and flows and flows without taking any breaks.
The women go on to discuss at length a show that resembles “Game of Thrones” where a queen takes advantage of her male slaves. She sexualises them and brutally abuses their bodies (I’ll spare you the details). The play takes every major scenario typical of TV and films, reverses the gender roles, and then takes it just that inch too far in terms of violence and sex. The women fixate on the beauty of the many men in question, especially when tragedy befalls them (in so many creative ways)- because it’s more tragic when the men are beautiful.
Shields successfully immerses us into this world of make-believe. She first deconstructs what we know and then builds on a blank slate with heightened ridiculousness. As a result, we come to some startling realisations first hand: we really don’t let women speak much on TV and films. We fixate A LOT on women’s beauty and their general appearance. And we enjoy seeing women get hurt even though we don’t realise we’re enjoying it. As a woman watching the show, we also get to live out a fantasy. We get to put on the shoes of a man and see what true, undiluted, unquestioned power intrinsically feels like. But we also feel icky about wielding a power that allows you to hurt others so thoughtlessly.
Shields’ writing weaves pop culture into a rich monologue that is performed by the three female actors while the man behind them on stage accents this conversation with body language, exaggerated facial expressions and sexual moans. The actors are extremely talented. How do they remember so many lines?! Each woman brings a different personality and flavour to the discussion. Ashley Botting is funny, Mayko Nguyen is pragmatic, and Sofia Rodriguez is lustful. Together they vividly construct stories and settings, making the audience laugh and gasp in shock. Jesse Lavercombe is the Beautiful Man. He stands in silence for most of the show until the absolute end. His restrained performance accurately parallels a woman’s experience under patriarchy. Director Andrea Donaldson keeps the play moving fast and doesn’t let it lose momentum. It remains snappy, witty, and visually varied from beginning till end.
Erin Shields wrote this play in 2015 but it speaks perfectly to our social climate today in which 25 white men sign an anti-abortion law that put women’s bodies in grave danger. Understanding the origins of gender roles is the first step to dismantling the patriarchy and alleviating the marginalisation of women and non-binary folk. “Beautiful Man” gives us a chance to do just that, all the while making us laugh and giving us a fun night out.
Get your tickets to the show here!
– Prachi Kamble