The F-Word stage blog: June 2020
The F-Word’s round-up of what’s happening in the world of comedy and theatre this month
television
Are you a guilty feminist?
Mary Litchfield reviews an episode of the comedy podcast The Guilty Feminist from earlier this year
Anne with an E tells the trauma of adoption like it is
Alessia Galatini watches Netflix’s recent adaptation of L.M. Montgomery’s 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables and finds it takes a stand on what it means to be a good parent
Drama and intrigue at the expense of victims
In this second review of Undercover, Jane Fae is not impressed
The best shot at the truth?
In our first of two reviews of Undercover, Rashida Islam sees a great premise let down by a sidelining of the most important issues at the show’s core
A case of clashing intersections
Nick Beard watches The People v OJ Simpson and finds a nuanced portrayal with an appreciation of the deep societal prejudices informing and impacting on the case
Your body is the vessel
Anastasia Wiltshire watches the first series of The Shannara Chronicles and is disappointed in the objectification of the two initially strong female leads, as they realise the key to saving the world lies in their own subjugation
A shadow of progress?
Nick Beard welcomes Shadowhunters’ diverse casting when wider representation has often failed to reach television shows aimed at teenagers and young adults
Beautiful dead women
Ailsa Bristow looks at Making a Murderer as part of a broader cultural trend in which women’s deaths are fetishised and made into a spectacle, while the women themselves are erased
Dickensian fails to meet great expectations on female characterisation
D H Kelly watches a BBC drama set within Charles Dickens' novels, finding a selection of uncomplicatedly likeable young women, whose journeys to old age lack the development allowed for the men of the stories
Is suffrage black or white?
Rashida Islam watches a recent BBC documentary about Sophia Duleep Singh and argues that, when it comes to Black activists throughout history, her story is not necessarily the most significant
Nothing feminist to detect?
Lisa Glass watches the 2015 DVD release of 1990s detective drama Chandler & Co and is disappointed with the old fashioned humour and lack of realism
A defiant exception
Sarah Louisa Phythian-Adams watches a futuristic drama set in a fictional Northern American town circa 2046 and finds a refreshing change from the usual limitations placed on female characters in sci-fi
Looking for the class divide
Lissy Lovett considers the intersection of gender and class inspired by two of last week's news stories
A lesson in reality
Nick Beard watches UnREAL, a drama that takes a wry look at the construction of reality TV and its effects on both the contestants and those behind the scenes
“Protecting the life of my child”
D H Kelly has a look at Louis Theroux's recent documentary, focused on the experiences of transgender children and their parents, and considers whether the programmme does justice to their stories
The leader of the pack?
Dawn Kofie reports on the antics in Raised By Wolves so far and finds the show warm-hearted and often funny, although sometimes a little thin on plot
“I haven’t been serious about anything since 1918”
Iona Sharma revels in the feminist joy of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries