Can feminists be funny?

This week, as we continue writing on our top secret new project we were very interested to hear the discussion on BBC Radio 4's Woman's hour: can feminists be funny? Well as two women who are endeavouring to write a play packed with LOLs, we certainly hope so. The women from Funny Women we met at this year's WOW festival at the South Bank would definitely say so. Find out more about their Funny Women Award Semi Finals this week and their forthcoming Edinburgh shows at http://www.funnywomen.com/

On the same episode of Woman's hour last Friday, they also interviewed Juliet Lyon from the Prison Reform Trust about their findings that only half of all women on remand receive visits from their families as with only 13 women's prisons in the country, women are often taken far from their family networks. Susan Calman was also joined by an ex-offender who talked about her own experiences of this. This was an issue that struck us while we were researching eXclusion as taking women far away from their support networks and indeed their children, can have far reaching implications.

At the time of writing this post, you can still listen to the broadcast but it is not clear on the website for how long:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01kksqw

In other news:

Mirja Breitholtz who wrote the music for eXclusion releases her latest song: http://t.co/MSBZ8UpO via @youtube

Deborah Klayman battles London's commuters with cello! And on that bombshell.....

Til next time

Ali & Debs

But I'm the only Smurfette in the village!

So, while Whoop 'n' Wail's current project is coming on nicely, Ali & Debs took a little time out this week to write a short play - just 6 pages long - on the theme of 'What is art?' for the next 17percent She Writes showcase for short plays by women. A lot of fun was had coming up with ideas and characters for the story and by giving ourselves just the afternoon and evening to complete the play, we were somewhat stepping out of our comfort zone. We are pleased with the result. My Bloody Laundrette will be submitted for the showcase and we'll let you know if we are selected!

http://17percent.wordpress.com/

We have been particularly enjoying the work of Anita Sarkeesian this week and indeed her blog The Feminist Frequency, inspired us for My Bloody Laundrette. Anita is a feminist pop culture media critic and her video blogs are both entertaining and fascinating. Check out her discussions on film, in particular The Smurfette Principle and The Bechdel Test for Women in Movies - a simple test to check how present women are in films and how well rounded their characters are - shocking and unsurprising in equal measure.

http://www.feministfrequency.com/category/movies/

We'd be interested in your thoughts.

Best to you all

Ali & Debs

Working away on our latest project (shhh) at The Poetry Cafe in Central London and were delighted to hear two police officers on motorbikes literally Whooping outside!  Glad to know they are supporting our work....

As well as working hard on the new material and focusing on ways to promote and develop the company, including forging new links with like-minded peeps, we are eagerly awaiting the start of August and this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.  Although WnW will not be producing a show there this year we will be enjoying the Festival and the Edinburgh ambiance, researching and networking, seeing as many shows as we can manage and supporting some of our friends who are performing this year:

The Ruby Dolls
Bekka Bowling & Shane Todd
Patrick Monahan
South Hill Park Arts Centre

We will be posting our must see shows and recommendations throughout the Fringe - see you there! ;-)

Ali & Debs