A musical about abortion?! You must be kidding, right?
Writer/director Larisa Faber writes about the catalyst of making GOOD GIRLS, coming to CPT Thu 24 Nov - Sat 26 Nov.
I had an abortion and felt relieved. What was traumatic about that experience was the judgment I felt from various medical professionals and the societal stigma that isolates people, not the decision or the procedure. After my experience, I thought: now I should be feeling regret. That's what society tells me. That it's a trauma. I didn't feel any of that. Growing up, abortion was never a taboo topic because it was part of the lived reality many people had faced during the Communist dictatorship in Romania. Any form of contraception was illegal in order to force people to have children, to build the great Romanian nation.
One night I fell into the deep dark hole of the internet and came across a collection of abortion stories in The Guardian. One person was quoted as saying: "The only comments that you ever hear from people who have had abortions are really heart-wrenching stories (...). You see those stories in soap operas all the time and I understand why. It makes for good drama. It is really important for people to hear from women who have had abortions and who really feel fine about it though." (Lynne Miles interviewed by Kira Cochrane, The Guardian, 27/11/2006)
And I thought: spot-on. Let me make the exact opposite of that. Let's be irreverent, raw and cheeky instead. Abortion is and always has been a part of life. It makes no sense to relegate it to one genre. Making a musical and illustrated book about abortion is my way of asking: why can't I joke about my own lived experience? Turns out, there are others out there who feel the same way, too. GOOD GIRLS is a collaboration between 3 countries: the UK, Luxembourg, and Lithuania. People from these three countries shared their stories. These stories are the backbone of the musical and the illustrated book.
One person from the UK hit the proverbial nail on the head:
"You should also be able to laugh about it. Cos if we can't laugh about it, we're just as bad as the people who are judgmental. Because then you're still treating it as this world-ending thing that's really serious all the time and it shouldn't be. It's just the same as having another healthcare procedure. I think that's important. That it can be funny, like any healthcare procedure can be funny, can be gross. It's a serious matter if it's to do with rights being taken away, but it should also be allowed to laugh about it." (Amy, UK)
With GOOD GIRLS, I hope for people to be empowered, educated and entertained. And if you're reading this and you too have had a similar experience, know that you are not alone.
We are many.
Thu 24 Nov - Sat 26 Nov at 9pm
