How to Date a Feminist | New Wimbledon Theatre Studio

Laughter and an upbeat vibe emanated from the audience at New Wimbledon Theatre Studio on Thursday 27th March following the play How to Date a Feminist by Samantha Ellis. This was Karen Holley’s debut as director for Cellar Door Theatre Productions. Holley’s choice of this romantic comedy is a departure from the more dark, challenging productions for which Cellar Door is so well known. Having said that, this play was still interesting, raising some provoking points about gender dating expectations and dynamics in the modern age and the power of human change more broadly. It was brought alive by a competent and solid cast who seemed to have fun themselves delivering the many witty lines.

The play opens mid plot with Steve, a self-professed male feminist, making his marriage proposal, ring in hand, to Kate. We quickly realise that Steve is not following the normal male script to sweep Kate off her feet, as much as Kate would want him to. Steve has been shaped in his formative years, (weekends living on the anti nuclear weapon protest site, Greenham Common), by his mother Morag’s radical influence. Kate, on the other hand, is a sucker for the proverbial dark, handsome bad boy, indulging her desire for heady love that sweeps her off her feet but finding herself at the constant mercy of cheating suitors, one of which being her disruptor boss, Ross.

As the title of the play blatantly gives away, it’s a play about feminism but with the comic twist of the man rather than the woman advocating for the rights of women. It pokes fun at the many ironies of women's tortured quest for equality and their perception by men. Kate is a journalist and while wearing nods to a Wonder Woman costume at the fancy dress party (where their love story begins), she extols the no no-nonsense virtues of Superman’s Lois Lane. Steve however then subtly points out, as he sports a Robin Hood hat, that Lane couldn’t have been quite the astute professional as she failed to realise the true identity of her close work colleague as Superman.

Written in 2016, this play is already feeling somewhat dated with the feminist agenda having moved on from women’s empowerment in the so-called third wave of feminism, to the now broader quest for awareness and recognition of marginalised groups in the now so-called fourth wave of feminism. Putting a positive spin on this, perhaps one could say it illustrates just how fast the world is changing in recent times.

All that being said, full credit is due to the clearly competent cast of six who brought the script alive. They also dealt flawlessly with a medical emergency in the audience which was impressive. Steve’s character was portrayed by the talented Tom Carter. His take on a male feminist, who has to face challenges to his own beliefs as we see him fall in love with a woman whose views complete oppose his own, was entirely convincing and endearing. Mariah Whelan’s ‘Kate’ conveyed a perfect blend of sass and charm both in her clear delivery of lines (even if her accent was a little affected) and through her energetic physicality as she grows in her understanding of love. The chemistry between Steve and Kate was credible.

Helen Wieland showed great comic timing portraying Steve’s logical, transactional ex girlfriend, Carina. She sees Steve in a new light after his failed marriage and makes a convincing case that mutual respect can trump true love, enough to almost take them down the aisle. Wieland was the perfect counterbalance to Kate’s passion and romantic submissiveness. Marshall Camden played Ross, the archetypical romcom villain we love to hate for his dirty dealings with our heroine. He was able to create a sense of uneasiness as he tries to press himself onto Kate, culminating in a well-executed, shocking moment of manipulation, as an act of violence (penknife drawn suddenly and held to Kate’s neck) is dismissed by him as merely a shock tactic to cure her hiccups.

Antony Dowd played Kate’s father, who we learn grew up in an Israeli refugee camp and still holds a candle for Kate’s mother from whom he has been divorced since Kate was 15. His interactions with his daughter were heart-warming and sincere and he remained convincing throughout portraying awkward moments when his traditional views surfaced on how women should behave. Julia Coleman’s depiction of Morag, Steve’s Scottish mother, was delivered with a fitting accent and a sound balance was struck between her non conformist nature and warmth as a loving mother. Her intimacy with Kate’s father was also convincing.

More could have been made of the characters’ movement generally around the stage to break up a degree of repetition in how they were mostly either standing or sitting. It did not feel necessary to have the characters, who were not involved in a scene, to be sitting as they were in the background. In moments when the characters departed through a door to the left of the stage, it gave a real sense of flow and action to the scenes, something which was noticeably lacking at other times.

There was the wonderful wedding scene which made perfect use of a large picture frame to capture the characters in wedding photos, ethical confetti was thrown and there was great energy to convey the magic and excitement of the special day. This all unfolded against a fantastic mash up of different music tracks that had just been mentioned in a previous cute wedding planning scene between Kate and Steve, with silly suggestions from them both including, “Marry You”, “Holding Out For a Hero”, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, “99 Red Balloons” and the theme tune to the original Robin Hood series (an amusing reference to Steve’s earlier fancy dress scene as the original “ethical hero”.)

There were some simple and effective costume touches, mostly for the fancy dress party, including boss, Ross, wearing a Superman badge hanging from a strap around his neck and a handful of hats symbolising different roles throughout. There was inconsistency throughout between the use of actual props (e.g a bottle of whiskey, a box of chips) and mimed items which felt somewhat visually jarring. Also, the set unfortunately lacked the intrigue, imagination and visual impact of other Cellar Door Productions.

Overall, this was an enjoyable play which was worth seeing. Although a departure from Cellar Door’s more usual challenging productions, it was an effective comic portrayal of men’s and women’s roles and the power of change for any of us as we navigate our relationships.

★★★☆☆ (3*)

Gifted tickets in return for an honest review