Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from October, 2015

Pretty Ugly @ LPAC by Lauren Orwin | 29 October 2015

Imagine a stage where the performer is so intimately exposed to us. She lies on the stage (very Abramovic) surrounded by the costumes which will make up her show. The performer is Louise Orwin and she is about to take us on a journey. Teenage girls around the world post videos of themselves online, asking viewers if they think they are pretty or ugly. Orwin took this idea and decided to see what would happen if she played the roles of three teenage girls online for a year. Most of the comments were negative, a majority of them from men. However, this show is not just about exposing misogyny or, indeed, paedophilia (she was posing as underage girl, and most of the genuine posters online are under the age of consent). Pretty Ugly is also about girls – about being a girl. About how we question, doubt, and construct ourselves. Imagine Moran’s How To Build a Girl on stage, with some shocking scenes. Orwin introduces not only to the characters of Baby, Becky and Amanda, but also th

Happy Things

My lovely friend Bee  posted a blog post this evening of her happy things. Many people know I like to read, it's a thing I shout about on a daily (cough-hourly-cough) basis. But, I thought I'd trawl through the dusty recesses of my mind and list some things that make me happy. Maybe it'll be something I can come back to and cheer me up on a rainy day? Or maybe you, too, decide to mind-vomit some happy things. I like senselessly, carelessly writing what comes into my head. Let's do this. the smell when everything is cold and damp outside and there are leaves on the ground my dog's ears bookshop smell cosy blankets hot tea hot coffee evenings with my mum and dad and sister my cousin Harry's laugh laughing washing my hands in hot water standing under the shower with my face up heavy rain feeling breathless recalling a memory and getting a funny feeling in your tummy choosing books for people and them actually liking them feeling full up from a r

Invisible Illness

Hundreds- thousands- millions of people on our planet live with invisible illness. Whether they suffer from a long term medical condition, chronic pain, or mental illness, invisible illness is tough because there's simply nothing to see. The amount of times of the last five years I've wanted a big sign above my head saying "I'm ill, please believe me"  is unreal. A woman, just this last 6 months called me out on taking up a space for my suitcase because I couldn't lift it onto the overhead rack on a crowded train. When I explained I had a bad back, she said she did too and that it was disgusting that I'd taken up a seat. I got off that train and cried; I'd been travelling three hours with around 20 books in my suitcase. I was in so much pain, and yet when I'd tried to explain (calmly and nicely) that I had a bad back, I was interrupted and disbelieved. Today was a big day for me. I went to the cinema with a friend, and for the first time, I was