Posted on Oct. 2: School of the Arts presents The Gut Girls
McMaster University's School of the Arts' is presenting Sarah Daniels' The Gut Girls as its fall theatre production for 2003.
The production will bring together a multidisciplinary team including a combination of professors, theatre professionals and more than 50 students who will earn academic credit for their work on the show.
The Gut Girls takes place in the poorest of working class districts in Victorian London and explores an upper class woman's attempt to 'save' those she perceives as less fortunate. But the Gut Girls resist her 'help' and the result is a hilarious, yet profoundly touching, portrayal of a clash of social cultures.
Playwright Sarah Daniels is known for her unflinching yet humourous examinations of the lives of marginalized groups of women. She has seen her work produced at the Royal Court Theatre, Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre, the National and the Albany Theatre in South London, where the original gut girls worked in local slaughter houses until a member of the local aristocracy took notice of their condition. In The Gut Girls, Daniels tells the story of the girls' 12-hour work days, spent up to their ankles in pig's blood in unheated sheds, removing the guts from newly slaughtered animals. The local population frowns on this work and regards it as only a slight step above prostitution, but social reformer Lady Helena is different. When she discovers the Gut Girls' plight, she decides not to scorn them but to 'save' them. The comedy begins when braving the disapproval of her social set, Lady Helena founds a club where the girls are taught Christian virtues and the skills needed to work as ladies maids in the homes of her wealthy friends. But Lady Helena has overlooked the one big advantage of their former profession: the Gut Girls had the run of the town because they all own knives and they know how to use them.
Catherine Graham, faculty member in the School of the Arts, says: “The play derives much of its humour from the conflict between women of different social classes who don't really understand each other. At the same time, it raises a lot of questions that we grapple with regularly in a university setting: What are the ethics of helping others? When does 'helping' become interference? Is enforcing our version of 'normal' really helping others?” The clever and amusing way in which the play asks these questions has already aroused interest in various programs across McMaster, such as social work, women's studies, philosophy and English. Professors from these diverse departments will be collaborating to use the comedic style of The Gut Girls as a catalyst for cross-disciplinary discussions of the problems that arise in helping relationships.
When: Nov. 14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 at 8 p.m.
Where: McMaster University in Robinson Memorial Theatre, Chester New Hall, Room 103.
Cost: $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors. Box office 905- 525-9140 ext. 23333.
Design Team: director: Teresa Simm; set/lighting: Patrick Brennan; sound: Ranil Sonnadara; costume: Martha Cockshutt
