how to be female
by Lisa Cagnacci
“There are perfect women… you see them on the bus sometimes, like aliens”
Meet Jane, Lucy, and Vanessa, three twentysomething women trying to define femininity on their own terms.
Jane, The Cynic: “Do you ever feel that nobody could fall in love with you because you're about as interesting as pureed parsnips?”
Lucy, The Dreamer: “I think everyone feels unloved sometimes. But I still dream about being the kind of girl who wears pretty glass slippers and meets princes at balls.”
Vanessa, The Beauty: “I don't think anyone has ever liked me. Men just want to sleep with me and women want to force-feed me Jaffa cakes until I weigh 14 stone and break out in spots.”
Sexuality, gender, and identity are brought into question in this clever new comedy by acclaimed writer-director Lisa Cagnacci.
The world premiere of "How to be Female" played at the Pleasance theatre in October 2005:
"Lisa Cagnacci’s new metrosexual comedy contains some genuinely hilarious moments and witty dialogue which wouldn’t go amiss in a sitcom like Coupling or Friends....A fun, familiar evening’s entertainment."
THE STAGE review of "How to be Female" (see below for more)
"Truly beautiful and moving... it's wonderful" * * * * *
Three Weeks review of "Starving Necrophilia", written and directed by Lisa Cagnacci
"Clever and witty... an excellent show... well worth seeking out" * * * *
The Scotsman review of "Playing" by Jodi Miller, directed by Lisa Cagnacci
Production Credits:
writen and directed by
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cast
joanna carolan
kieron kerr
dan fearn
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produced by
eclectic theatre company
production intern
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from the review of "How to be Female" in THE STAGE
by Nuala Calvi
"Jane is happy working in a bookshop and going home alone to frozen pizza every night… or is she? Her blonde colleague Lucy reckons she would be better off with a boyfriend, but would Lucy herself be happier with a girlfriend? Vanessa wants to go out with Lucy, but she’s got more testosterone pulsing through her veins than John, who fancies Jane, but reckons he’s a male lesbian.
"Lisa Cagnacci’s new metrosexual comedy contains some genuinely hilarious moments and witty dialogue which wouldn’t go amiss in a sitcom like Coupling or Friends. One scene sees Jane (Georgina North) attempting to put off the Germaine Greer-spewing John by doing her best to assume a ‘girly’ persona - puckering her lips like a fish, falling over in her heels, giggling like a hyena and reducing the audience to hysterics. Kieron Kerr’s performance as hapless macho male Lev, confused about his extinction, is also excellent.....(and) Corina Bona’s bookshop design provides a suitably cosy, simple setting for a fun, familiar evening’s entertainment."
lisa cagnacci
writer / director
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Lisa Cagnacci studied Theatre Arts and Creative Writing at Brandeis University, Massachusetts, USA, then completed an MA in Directing at Goldsmiths College, London.
Her work as writer/director includes the one-woman play Starving Necrophilia ("truly beautiful and moving... Go see this: it's disturbing and it's graphic and it's wonderful" ***** - Three Weeks) which appeared on the Edinburgh Fringe and toured by invitation to the Kolibri Pince Theatre, Budapest; the Center for Independent Artists, Minneapolis, and the Pleasance Theatre, London.
Other directing credits include Playing by Jodi Miller ("clever and witty... an excellent show... well worth seeking out" **** - The Scotsman) at the Edinburgh Fringe and Arundel Festival; Losing Unity by Hannah Murphy at Jermyn Street Theatre and the Edinburgh Fringe, and Vita & Virginia by Eileen Atkins at the White Bear.
She was assistant director of The Countess (Criterion Theatre, West End and Yvonne Arnaud, Guildford) and associate director of Laboratorio Itinerea's site-specific theatre festival in Rapallo, Italy, collaborating on Astaroth by Stefano Benni and L'Antologia di Spoon River devised from the work of Edgar Lee Masters.
As a writer she has contributed to subVERSE, the monthly evening of political shorts at Theatre 503, and was a semi-finalist in last year's BBC Talent Sitcom Writer competition.
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