WEBINAR: Performing in a Feminist Backlash: “Nevertheless, She Persisted”: Feminist Theatre Now

Webinar hosted by the Irish Society for Theatre research

Thu 27 Mar 2025 14:00 – 15:15 GMT

Speakers:

Dr. Lisa FitzPatrick

Dr. Indu Jain

Reportedly, in the US, research projects into women’s healthcare and research with ‘woman’ or ‘gender’ as keywords are being postponed or halted, with potentially devastating effects. This stagnation not only threatens advancements in understanding women’s health issues but may also herald catastrophic implications for women’s rights at large. Furthermore, the dismantling of pivotal agencies such as USAID—despite their myriad inadequacies—could disproportionately burden women in underrepresented spaces. The precarious status of abortion rights, compounded by the proliferation of anti-LGBTQI+ legislation, signals a systemic weaponisation of policies that jeopardises not only marginalised communities but also the broader demographic of women.

The necessity for feminism and feminist performance to mobilise in response to these emergent global threats, particularly those emanating from the Far Right in the United States, Europe, India, and beyond, has become increasingly urgent. This mobilisation demands a nuanced approach to global solidarity intertwined with localised practices, echoing the ‘glocal’ conceptual frameworks of the early 21st century while perhaps revisiting certain strategies and ideologies prevalent in Second Wave feminism and the foundational tenets of Indian feminism.

Moreover, the rhetoric propagated by the Far Right—amplified through social media platforms—posits itself as a guardian of women’s interests by invoking antiquated and deeply racist narratives of foreign ‘rapists.’ This discourse is further intertwined with efforts to criminalise abortion and reproductive rights, couched in the misleading aesthetic of liberating women from the purportedly oppressive neoliberal state.

Resistance in this context calls for not only open and confrontational dialogue but also fostering feminist transnational solidarities, almost like “power-lines” that explicitly contest this burgeoning reactionary movement. It is imperative to identify potential allies within this landscape. In this regard, one must critically interrogate how performance might become a method of self and community advocacy? What methods and approaches are specific to their cultural locations, and what might be adapted and shared? What must be understood to act promptly and effectively? While reflecting on the methodologies and approaches endemic to specific cultural contexts, can performances across borders also enable a comprehensive understanding of these dynamics, which is essential for timely and effective action in an increasingly polarised world?

Bios:

Lisa Fitzpatrick is Senior Lecturer in Drama at Ulster University in Derry. She is the author of Rape on the Contemporary Stage (2018), and her recent edited books include The Theatre of Deirdre Kinahan (with Maria Kurdi; Lang, 2022) and Plays by Women in Ireland 1926-1933: Feminist Theatres of Freedom and Resistance (with Shonagh Hill; Methuen, 2022). Her work on gender-based violence in conflict and post-conflict societies included a collaboration with Kabosh Theatre Company, Belfast, resulting in a new play Shedding Of Skin. She is co-convenor with Indu Jain of the Feminist Working Group at the International Federation for Theatre Research, and senior editor of Theatre Research International. Her new project is on honour, gender, and performance.

Indu Jain is an Associate Professor of English at Janki Devi Memorial College, Delhi University, India. Her research interests include post-colonial theory and literature, Indian literature in English translation, feminist theory, and performance studies. She is particularly focused on exploring the gaps in feminist theatre historiography within the performance space. Dr. Jain has published on contemporary Indian feminist theatre and pedagogy, her latest article being Daughters Opera: An Epistemic Representation of Feminist Solidarities published in ‘Studies in Theatre and Performance’ (June 2024) by Routledge, Taylor and Francis. She is co-convenor with Lisa Fitzpatrick of the Feminist Theatre Research Working Group of the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR). She has also received a Research Fellowship from the Eric Auerbach Institute of Advanced Studies in Cologne, Germany.