Theatre / political drama
Preview: Beauty is Pain, Wickham Theatre
Staged as part of the University of Bristol’s InterAct Festival (Wickham Theatre, March 26-Apr 5), Beauty is Pain (Apr 4-5) is a piece of verbatim performance art, drawing on Donald Trump’s support of the Miss USA pageants and treatment of women in the mainstream media.
The production forms part of the ten-day festival from InterAct (formerly StudioSpace), the Departmental Society for Theatre and Film at the University of Bristol.
“The idea for this play has been a long time coming,” explains writer and director Pippa Adamthwaite-Cook. “I was very keen to get the play out there as soon as possible while the topic is so politically current for the audience.
is needed now More than ever
“We began the process by doing a workshop with InterAct where people were invited to share how they felt after the workshop, which was inspired by the play. We got some really positive feedback and began the process of putting a crew together to then eventually cast five amazing actors and a crew over over 20 talented people.”
The play draws on various research including an article from the New Yorker magazine that revealed how, from 1996 to 2015, Donald Trump co-owned the Miss Universe Organization, which also included the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants. “A day or two before a pageant began, Trump would casually visit the contestants while they conducted their final rehearsals,” Pippa explains. “Former contestants told me that Trump would circulate among the young women, shaking hands and chatting with each of them.
“Trump has been accused of sexual assault 23 times since the 1970s, a few of the recorded cases being from the pageant contestants themselves. After Trump was accused of sexual assault sponsors began to drop out of the pageant, so he was forced to sell his portion of the pageants.
“This story inspired me to create this politically charged play, which highlights the power that Trump held within the pageant or still does hold within the world. I have threaded verbatim Trump lines from quotes in the mainstream media, via both male and female characters, to create a fun and shocking audience experience which takes a turn and makes people aware of the impact that Trump is having on our society.”
Beauty is Pain is performed at the Wickham Theatre on Apr 4 & 5 as part of the InterAct Festival. For more info and to buy tickets, visit www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/306789
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