Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.
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| Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Alice Birch |
| Date premiered | 2014 |
| Place premiered | The Other Place |
Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. is a feminist play by Alice Birch, commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and first performed in 2014. The play had its off-Broadway premiere in 2016. It was the co-winner of the 2014 George Devine Award for Most Promising New Playwright and was nominated for the 2014/15 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.
Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. presents thirteen stand-alone scenes or vignettes over four acts.[1] The scenes begin with a dialogue between a man and woman discussing sex as she takes control of his education. Then, another couple discuss marriage after a rejected proposal. A woman and her employer discuss work obligations as the woman wishes to take Mondays off. Then a shopper strips naked in a grocery store after a sexual assault. A woman and her non-verbal daughter address the woman's mother's absence from their lives. Following this scene, the play becomes more abstract as scenes blend into each other, including critiques of pornography, a salesperson selling T-shirts with feminist slogans, and a person selling hymens.[2][3] The final scene discusses the future, overthrowing systems and eradicating all men.
Development
The Royal Shakespeare Company commissioned Birch to write the play and provided her with the prompt, "Well-behaved women seldom make history". Birch also took inspiration from Valerie Solanas' SCUM Manifesto, as well as feminist writers such as Kat Banyard, Caitlin Moran, Andrea Dworkin. She wrote the play in three days.[4][5]