Typical Girls is one of the best shows I've seen. This wasn't only down to the fact that the acting, writing and stage design was impeccable, but because Typical Girls is extremely female, it has a completely female cast, singing songs from a completely female band, and it's a female playwright writing about female friendships.
(Lara Grace Ilori and the Company in Typical Girls. Photo by Helen Murray)
An all female cast is far too rare, if you look at the stats the top three highest grossing non-musicals they are Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, War Horse and A Curious Incident of a Dog in the Nighttime which are all male centred stories, according to The Guardian the the ratio of male to female roles is 2:1 showing therefore seeing an all female cast is extraordinary.
As well as this not many pieces of media are about positive female friendships. The girls support each other, especially the relationship between Mouth and Geordie where they have a playful banter, but they know each other's business and why they are reacting in such a way.
(Helen Cripps and Alison Fitzjohn in Typical Girls. Photo by Helen Murray)
Another example is Mouth and Munches fight, they’re at each other’s throat but they can make up and do the work. So often the media depicts female friendships as toxic after a small fight or girls are pitted against each other so having Typical Girls do the opposite is refreshing. That's why Typical Girls is fantastic!
Comments
A Great review Lizzy. I also liked the fact that you have made references to other performances and made it relevant to the points you are making in your blog.
This was fab, I liked the way you linked Typical Girls back to the routes of feminism in theatre and shared your thoughts on that.