She’s F***ing Tired is a wild ride through the absurdity of beauty standards, fuelled by relentless social media trends. Brace yourself for an amusing yet eye-opening journey as we venture into the impossible ideals imposed on women. Get ready to laugh, cringe, and maybe even shed a tear as we expose the insanity of it all. Directed by Emily Adams, She’s F***ing Tired is showing at The Courtyard Theatre, on 6th August, 6pm.
Emily, what inspired you to create “She’s F***ing Tired,” and how do you feel it addresses the absurdity of beauty standards imposed by society?
The performance idea sparked from a conversation with a friend last summer. We were discussing how often we see women with cosmetic procedures and how normalised it’s become to have these done, because of social media trends and body goals like Kim K. Our discussion didn’t come from a place of judgement put from a deep concern for us women. We are always worrying about how we look and often aspiring to look like someone else. So, I wanted to remind us women that our worth is more than our looks and the products we own.
Because social media plays a huge part in influencing us with the latest beauty standards, in the show we see the two performers following a flurry of TikTok trends on a projection. At first it appears fun, but chaos ensues when the changing trends get faster and faster, and the products get more ridiculous as they struggle to keep up. We show how exhausting and overwhelming it is to constantly stay ‘on trend’ with things we’re ‘supposed’ to wear, buy or do. And with every makeup product, clothing and body altering tool, they begin to lose who they are.
Can you elaborate on how the interdisciplinary approach, combining physical theatre, dance, comedy improv, and acrobatics, enhances the message of the show?
The physical theatre and comedy improv are used with TikTok trend dances like Apple and Texas Hold ‘Em plus many more, to engage the audience with the act of following trends and show how these trends can be fun but are incredibly overwhelming when sucked in to the chaos of trying to keep up. Contemporary dance and acrobatics are used to convey a physical response to the chaos that shows they’re tired of the BS and are relearning who they are when they’re not worrying about society’s standards. It’s a fun and relatable performance, but it also makes you think.
How did your collaboration with Mel Suan and Annelise Bucher come about, and what unique elements do they bring to the performance?
We all met on the MA in Screendance at London Contemporary Dance School. Our friendship and time within the cohort created an understanding of each other’s strengths and skillsets and we support each other well. Mel and Annelise are talented artists and have individual movement styles, but are beautifully in tune when they dance together. We also share a similar perspective on the idea of beauty standards, and all feel this is an important reminder to women to question the standards that we see.
Given your background in dance filmmaking and screendance, how did you integrate video projections into the live performance to amplify the show’s themes?
I thought it would be interesting for the audience to see the trends the performers follow for themselves on a large screen, rather than just watching two women scrolling on their phones. It creates more impact and really shows the staggering amounts of content that fly through our feeds every day. The audience can also relate to most of the trends that they’ve probably seen themselves. By using video projection, not only are the performers affected, but the audience can be too. It allows the audience to not only be an observer of the show but also a consumer of the content. They might feel themselves wanting to follow a TikTok dance or buy a pair of Jorts. So as a viewer you can go on your own deconstructing journey with the performers.
What do you hope audiences will take away from “She’s F***ing Tired,” and how do you envision it contributing to the ongoing conversation about societal beauty standards and the impact of social media?
I hope audiences will know that they can have fun with trends and enjoy the humour it brings, but I want to remind them to be cautious of its ability to make us feel bad about ourselves and recognise when it’s going too far. It isn’t to say there is anything wrong with wearing makeup or trendy clothes, but when we do these things, we need to question; are these things making me happy? Or am I doing it because Kim K told me? We should question why we’re following these trends and consider when we need to remove them from our feed. It’s so inherently damaging to how we see ourselves when we start to compare ourselves and chase unrealistic ideals. Because often the reality is, the women we are aspiring to be, are using a filter or have changed themselves too. We are chasing ideals that are not natural to us and every one of us feels the pressure of these standards.
Through creating this show, I have done a lot of learning and unlearning myself. I had never had TikTok before making this show and it’s an overwhelming blackhole of ‘GRWMs’ and products I should be ‘obsessed’ with. But I’ve found that unfollowing the content that makes you unhappy and finding content with good affirmations and body positivity allows you to enjoy social media in a more nourishing way.
Or just following a lot of cute cat videos.
With the rise of TikTok trends and overconsumption in the fashion and beauty industries, it feels important to keep this conversation going. It’s getting harder and harder to be ourselves and enjoy who we are naturally. Society continues to tell us there are things wrong with us and then sells us procedures, clothes and tools to ‘fix’ us. I ask; what if the only thing we need to fix is how we see ourselves?
I feel society’s standards are a load of BS and they continue to make billions off of our insecurities.
The biggest f*ck you, would be, to be ourselves.
As I believe to be ourselves, is to be beautiful.
There is only one you on this earth, and we don’t need any more Kim Ks!