Writer and Performer: Star Stone
Director: Jessica Lynn Johnson
“We are Barbie dolls, practising for our future Kens.”
For those who somehow managed to miss it, #MeToo was a feminist call to arms on Twitter, following the Harvey Weinstein allegations in October 2017, after American actress Alyssa Milano posted the now famous status, “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me too’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem”. What followed was an avalanche of stories from both celebrities and regular folk about the sadly common experiences a disproportionate number of women have had just trying to exist and progress in the world (although and the hashtag did eventually evolve to include stories from men and non-binary people too). Six years later, these stories are still being told.
Enter another American actress Star Stone, and her one woman show #MeToo. Presented in York ahead of her taking it to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This one act show is a whistle stop tour through Stone’s life, featuring a dizzying cast of characters, real and anthropomorphised. It’s ostensibly a comedy piece, although the subject matter is nothing but bleak, taking in heavy themes such as sexual assault, coercive control, bulimia and cults, not to mention the ever present threat of The Patriarchy. If The Barbie Movie has taught us anything recently it is that women’s issues can be discussed seriously in a light hearted manner, and the frequency with which #MeToo coaxes genuine laughter from it’s audience gives the show a similar sort of feel, although this Barbie is a confused and mildly depressed modern hippy and her Ken is a sexually aggressive narcissist.
Stone is wonderful in her acting ability, able to use her physicality and voice to embody a series of different, clearly defined characters, and the show weaves spoken word, song and pre-recorded interjections to great effect. Her rewrites of a few Disney classics are an excellent glimpse into the dark comedy and real heart she clearly embodies. However, in cramming so much into the plot, the serious topics she introduces are only ever discussed at a surface level. The audience can play female trauma buzzword bingo and end up with a full house, but there’s very little actually said between those words. Stone will start to touch on an interesting issue, defining something which could really form a connection with her audience, and then will flit away just as a poignant commentary is starting. This leaves the audience feeling like what could have been insightful and illuminating discussion is cut off before it gets a chance to begin.
If you are heading up to the Edinburgh Fringe this Summer,#MeToo is still worth taking an hour out of your day to go and see if you happen to be passing, if only because the more people talk about these topics, the more awareness is raised. It would be a very good eye opener for someone without such life experiences, and the balance of humour to pathos is certainly engaging for new comers to the movement. But ultimately it doesn’t really say much that hasn’t already been said. On the other hand, that really is the point isn’t it? How much more can be said before things change for the better?
Reviewed on Thursday 3rd August 2023.
Runs at Edinburgh Fringe from 14th until 20th August 2023.
#metoo was nothing to do with Alyssa Milano.
She saw the original tweet from the youth worker who created the hashtag to promote her work with trafficked teen girls.
Milano used her clout to magnify the message but in the process lost the original focus. This lead to thousands of privileged people being empowered to tell their stories about bad dates, relationships and meetings.
This has reduced the visibility of the original cause and is an insult to real victims for which the hashtag was created.