We sat down for a quick chat with Elizabeth Huskisson ahead of her latest project, Where have all our women gone? at The Playhouse in October.
Where Have All Our Women Gone? has been described as both theatre and activism. When you first conceived the play, did you imagine it being performed not only in theatres but also within institutions like the police force?
I never thought we’d be fortunate enough to perform for institutions like the police force or given the opportunity to take theatre out of its traditional setting. It’s been such a privilege to share this work with the people who experience these issues in such complex ways, who are trapped in a system that both aims to tackle male violence against women and girls and yet enables it.
Recently, there have been several plays on the West End, including Prima Facie and Punch that capture the state of the nation and reflect the acute issues plaguing our times. As much as I can only dream that this play is given such a platform, there is nothing more rewarding than performing in spaces where you are gifted a very real opportunity to change people’s lives, even in the smallest ways.
The piece uses satire, sincerity, and surrealism to explore male violence against women. How did you find the balance between dark comedy and the gravity of such urgent subject matter?
Of course it’s a hard line to walk, a subject we must approach with the utmost respect and care. As a creative team, our process involves devoting attention to how we make the work provocative without being incendiary. When we first staged this play two years ago, our assistant director, Lewis, shared a reflection on the work I will never forget; “everyone in that room will agree with you, so you have to find a different way to challenge them and provoke them into action.” This sentiment has become a defining principle of my practice and our ambition with this play. It’s vitally important that when the audience leave the theatre, they are so greatly moved by what they have seen, they feel compelled to act. So, when I write and when we craft this play, we look for ways to subvert, stay surreal, and most importantly, start a riot.
You’ve been praised for the raw energy you bring to the role of Everywoman. How do you prepare yourself emotionally and physically for such an intense, one-woman performance?
It is extremely intense but the experience is nothing short of cathartic. Across an hour I get to play fifteen characters and some nights it truly feels like a theatrical marathon. I’m extremely lucky to have a wonderful team around me so I work very closely with my director Lillian Waddington and movement director Stephanie Burrell to ensure I can maintain the intensity and that the physical life of the characters are so rich they can continuously propel me into the emotional state required.
A strong part of my preparation involves sound and music. Over the years I’ve been very fortunate to work with sound designers and musicians such as Ilia Higgs, Louie Johnston Ward and Xiaowen Shang, whose work is transformative to my experience. Music is the first thing I start with on any project, I wrote this entire play whilst listening to one song. I have always found music allows access into a character, an emotional state and most importantly demands presence.
Sort Sol Theatre has a strong socio-political focus. How do you see the company’s mission evolving after this production, especially in terms of creating dialogue around systemic misogyny?
From day one, our work as a company has been socio-politically engaged but this is the first time I feel our creativity and our activism are colliding in a more tangible way. The main way in which I see this evolving is sharing the work in more spaces outside of a theatre. Performing in a theatre feels like home but performing elsewhere, at a conference, in a prison, to an all male audience, feels like an act of defiance. I hope that we can continue to share this work in unexpected spaces, where there’s a sense of jeopardy, as if there might be something gained and very possibly something lost. In these spaces of uncertainty, there is room for dialogue and change.
The Q&A following the performance includes groups like Everyone’s Invited and HeForShe. What role do you see collaboration between theatre and activism playing in pushing for real social change?
The beauty of theatre is that it gives us a voice and activism empowers us to use that voice. Theatre reflects the society and activism looks to change it. Theatre has always been deeply political and has the power to shift culture, viewpoint, rhetoric. Even when the changes aren’t reflected in law they can be reflected in social discourse, in politics, in the fabric of society. Everyone’s Invited and HeForShe are outstanding in their ability to recognise where theatre and art can support their work and I think this collaboration allows us, in our shared mission, to re-sensitise a nation to an issue that has become commonplace and offer a source of hope.