When reading the plays for this year’s Bay Area Playwrights
Festival, The Comparables by Laura
Schellhardt resonated with me the most. As a feminist and a student of
Sexuality and Gender Studies, this play brought up issues that I find important
and are still relevant in our post-feminist world. But feminism is an ugly word
today; synonymous with man haters or overactive activists. To me, feminism has
always meant equality among the sexes and that is how I will be discussing it. While
many women are climbing slowly up the business food chain, their male
associates still far out number them. The most obvious example is the United
States Senate where women make up only 19% of our country’s lawmakers. Women in
some circumstances are still paid less than men with the same skill sets in the
same line of work. Laura Schellhardt, the playwright, also commented on the few
female playwrights being showcased in American theatre today. What this play displays
is not how women are being held back by the oppressive patriarchy, but how women
are held back by other women which I think is a new perspective to an old
problem.
The Comparables focuses
on three women who compete for power in their business of high-end real estate
and offers three different views of how feminism and women function in the
workplace. Bette, the oldest, is a self-made women in a man’s world. She has
had to adapt to survive and as a result her behavior is almost masculine and
competitive. Her second in command, Monica, has learned to rely on Bette and
displays feminine characteristics. She relates mostly with women and uses
emotion and compassion to make connections with others. Iris, on the other
hand, enjoys the company of men. She uses her sexuality to her advantage to get
ahead and strives for equality with (but not power over) her male cohorts. This
pits different ideals of feminism against each other with laughs and the
suspense of who will make it out on top. Should women be re-negotiating business on their own terms
or sticking with how patriarchy has done it for the last millennium? The
Comparables plays with this question in tantalizing ways that will leave
you craving to discuss.
Schellhardt has said her inspiration for The Comparables stems from a
conversation about the wage gap and what women specifically are doing to hinder
the advancement of gender equality. Tennessee congresswoman Marsha Blackburn
stated in early June of this year that women do not want equal pay laws saying
that “I’ve always said that I didn’t want to be given a job
because I was a female, I wanted it because I was the most well-qualified
person for the job.” While I think most women can agree that they want to be
hired because they are the best person for the job, women are earning about 20%
less than their male counterparts. If women are hired because they’re the best
for the job, why should they not be paid as much as a male in the same
position? Women also use slut shaming as a way to control and put down other
women. This technique is used in The
Comparables as the characters vie for power over each other. Slut
shaming is linked to sexual morality but also does not typically deal with
actual sexual behavior. Instead it focuses on those with high status policing
those with lower status. By calling someone a slut, one person is saying, “I
would never do that,” in an attempt to raise their own moral status and lower
the other’s.
Saying this play is feminist poses a problem. As I have
said, feminism is an ugly word. This is not a play that will shove a message
down your throats, but make you think about how we negotiate equality and
femininity. I think this play can and should be enjoyed by all audiences, not
just a feminist audience. The audience will enjoy all three characters’ witty
banter but find a connection with at least one of the women. They are all
sympathetic characters that the audience can relate to in some way. This play
brings to light how far we’ve come since the first wave of feminism in the
early 20th century and how much further we still have yet to go. I
am honored to be the Production Assistant for this show. Please come out to the
staged readings July 21st at 12pm and July 27th at 8pm. This
is an event not to miss. Following the 8pm showing there will be a cocktail
party where I would love to discuss your thoughts on the play.
Please visit…
…for more blogs on sexuality and gender through a biological, sociological, psychological,
and cultural lens.
BAPF: You mentioned in a previous interview that the setting of Las Vegas appealed to you because it was an entire city built to encourage people to only care about their own pleasure in the present moment. What drew you to exploring individualized experience in contrast tocollective experience?
