BWW REVIEWS: TRILOGY, Battersea Arts Centre

It's hard to know what to expect from Trilogy, a truly participatory piece of theatre if ever there was one. I suspect a great many of my fellow audience members didn't, either. All I had heard was that there would be naked ladies and this put me, the most self-conscious person in the world, immediately at unease. I thought that it would probably be cliched, that I wouldn't feel anything, that I would be embarrassed and that the nudity would just seem deposited in there to make a point. Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong.

Women are all too often afraid to show their bodies, worrying instead about every minute aspect and about being viewed by others and this fear is what Trilogy reacts against so well and what director Nic Green has worked to point out. With the leads (Green and compatriot Laura ) stripping off practically from the get-go after a kitsch but fun dance routine, it removes all boundaries as the audience is essentially asked to 'get over it' before the massive bevy of amazing volunteer dancers venture out onto the stage, pounding the floor and shaking every inch of themselves to the beat. It sounds odd, but it was instead extremely moving and empowering. These women simply did not care. Maybe they did in their real lives, but they'd managed to cast aside these worries for just a few moments to show that it really doesn't matter what you look like.

Somebody said, and it's a very apt point, that it's rare for a woman to see another naked woman, unless it's in porn, or in passing at the swimming pool. This piece gave the mainly female audience the opportunity to do so without judgement or fear, to finally be able to appreciate the varied ways women actually present without darted shirts and Spanx on - and which is why the conclusion of the third part of Trilogy was as moving as its opening, almost inspiring me to join in.

The middle section looked at the 1971 Town Bloody Hall conference on women's lib, hosted by 'notorious misogynist Norman Mailer' and featuring the one and only Germaine Greer. The synchronised dance sequences created alongside the video footage didn't seem to fit with the message, lacking focus and variety, and in the final section there were a couple of misjudged moments - faking out the audience with a slightly worthy juxtaposition of 'comedy' ideas and serious crimes against women, as well as Laura's phone call to her mother moving from her mother speaking to Laura relaying her mother's words.

However, on the whole it was a very special, very interesting and very intriguing experience. It is a complete piece, though not perfect, but one that has struck a wonderful nerve with many women - and hopefully some men, too. Gok Wan, eat your heart out. Nic Green has arrived.

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