Three Marlenes
by
Jane Dingle, Mary Lewis and Liz Solo
“I
am not a myth.”
- Marlene Dietrich
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Three
Marlenes is a new three-woman theatre piece that explores the
concept of identity as it is shaped through the lens of media.
Marlene
Dietrich is viewed as an icon of feminine power, a gorgeous and
intelligent liberated woman in charge of her own destiny. How much of
Marlene's image was a reflection of her identity and how much was a
construction of the Hollywood star makers? The identity that Marlene
projected did not represent the condition of the average woman of her
time and, some would argue, belied the woman behind the image. Yet
her iconic persona has given generations of people an intriguing
heroine, a strong female role model, an image to aspire to. How is
this valuable, ultimately, to our society, our cultural identity?
In
the digital age identity has taken on a whole new dimension. Millions
of individuals have a media presence - fashioning their public
identities, either by accident or design, whenever they post to their
profiles or upload images and video to their Facebook, Twitter,
Youtube, MySpace, Link'din etc. The pursuit of fifteen minutes of
fame is a widespread passion. These identities we project via social
media reflect how we want to be perceived – but are these mediated
identities true reflections of ourselves? How do we process these
identities, what does it mean, is this valuable?
Three
ordinary women release their “inner Marlenes” in this new play. Three Marlenes incorporates
live interaction with media sequences as it examines feminine power,
gender roles, stardom and scandal through the social media personas
of three very different women. Three Marlenes explores how these women
relate to, perceive and customize icons of feminine power.
