‘What if Venus, the Roman Goddess of love and beauty, washed up on a beach at this moment in time?  How would she fare with customs and immigration? With perceptions of her as a refugee or a newcomer?’ It’s quite a question. And one that Lydia Towsey seeks to answer in The Venus Papers, her book of poetry and the name of the show taking place this week at JW3. The Venus Papers is a theatrical poetry show of arrivals, departures and journeys, written and performed by Lydia, with onstage music and vocals by Dave Dhonau and Ola Szmidt and sees her joined by Julie Felix, Helen Ivory and Dzifa Benson.

The plot is deceptively simple. Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty has washed up on British shores in time to witness the frenzy and aftermath of the 2017 snap election.  Through the filters of an immigration officer, the media and the general public, she experiences what it is to be a 21st century woman at a time of upheaval and change.

Yet the ideas and areas it addresses are complex. Class, culture, politics, mental health, gender, migration, the environment, motherhood, eating disorders, and heritage are all explored in the piece, and all make for something of an engaging art form. It all started with a painting.

‘I was drawn to Botticelli’s Birth of Venus for lots of reasons – as a woman, (now) new mother, practising life model, former visual artist, and as someone with the past experience of anorexia, something I experienced from my late teens through to my early 20s. I was initially interested in the disparity between how we see ourselves and how others see us, and what Botticelli’s vision of Venus – and our own contemporary notions of beauty – say about that.’ Lydia says.

The ‘tales of 21st century women – every-woman, immigrant, refugee, outsider’ presented in the book and on stage were gathered together from and in everyday life.

‘I found the Customs Officer sitting on a train to London (from Leicester). I was looking over a draft of ‘Venus at Customs’ and the man next to me, having read some the lines, started to tell me about his work – not as a Customs Officer, but as an advocate for political refugees, assisting followers of Falun Gong fleeing persecution in China. Elsewhere in the show I explore the voices of Tabloid readers, finding these everywhere from on the news to in my family, people in a restaurant where I breastfed my baby… a group of women attending a life drawing class… an imagined interview between Barbie and a Sun journalist….’

The show moves between people, places and times, so covers a lot of ground, and the voice of Venus draws on everyone from Diana Doors to Miss Havisham. The world we live in and that of literature has seen a huge number of voices within it. Positioning what we see as a modern issue in ancient times and framing it through the lens of classic literature offers an opportunity to explore and examine with fresh eyes. There’s also a lot to learn. For example, many stories and legends from Socrates and beyond are about questioning authority. ‘At a time of increased class division and inequality, such speaking truth to power and challenging of the status quo feels quite prescient.’

It’s not difficult to see how these questions and issues are as relevant in contemporary society as they were then. The same is true when it comes to national and cultural background, and elsewhere Venus is positioned as the everywoman and traveller. Here, Lydia uses her own experiences. ‘Like many people in the UK, I come from a family of immigrants, on my father’s side mostly Hungarian Jewish, though my Great Great Grandfather was Mexican, his wife American – and there are people from/of other places and cultures too, my mother’s Welsh. At the same time I’m English and a descendent of the British Empire and therefore implicated in a story of colonialism and post-colonialism.’

Whilst we often think of older civilisations as being homogenous and self contained, they were actually diverse, culturally plural, and exciting. The classical literature teaches us to look outward and ‘be open – welcome, in fact – new cultures and influences.’ Just like us, Greek civilisation was drawn from and cross pollinated by numerous other places. And, also like us ‘literature is social, culture, political and traveling.’

A quote from John Gardner comes to Lydia: ‘”There are only two plots: (1) A hero goes on a journey (2) A stranger comes to town.” The hero and the stranger – the group, and the other or outsider – is merely a matter of perspective.’

The themes in the Venus Papers are heavy. But the inter-disciplinary show is fun, engaging, emotional and hilarious. Words help. Art touches us in places that politic rhetoric can’t. As Lydia says, literature ‘can reflect things – to help us navigate through, better understand, form an opinion and take action, through voting, campaigning or discourse. It can help because it can inspire, invigorate, bring people together and present different views.

‘At a time when borders are becoming hemmed in, literature is open.’

Thursday, June 29, 2017
8:00pm 10:30pm
JW3
341-351 Finchley Road London, England, NW3 6ET United Kingdom

The story of a London teenager who finds that suddenly and inexplicably she has become an alien in her own country. Shala Nyx plays five versions of the same girl, after finding out that her world has changed, and she has no house, no home, and what feels like no hope. To start with she’s a familiar teenager on her mobile phone, worried about boys and shoes and arguing with her mum. But then things change, and we move to the stages of discovering that your world is falling down, needing to flee, travelling and being ‘processed’ – quite literally as a number.

As her image and accent shifts from Londoner to Arabic to Scottish, it’s startling how differently the situation portrayed appears. What seems unthinkable becomes a potential reality; what seems incomprehensible becomes identifiable. Terraced houses and bombed shelters all mingle, and the audience does feel a sense of collective identity, even from the safety of this beautiful venue. Although shooting and shadows replace loud music and youthful vigour for all, it may well be hardest for females. We see the girl forces and degraded in order to access basic needs, and ‘be less than I am.’ Independence and identity are irrelevant, and shame and judgement pervade.

Director Dominic Hingorani and designer and illustrator Rachana Jadhav have used the resources well, and Nyx risen to the challenge. Doors open and close and the screen action reaches into the live. In one poignant moment the familiar streets become coated in blood, and when in a café and call centre, being lured to finding a sense of belonging once again freedom fighting group the scene is surrounded by sinister tentacles. When so much has happened, for soldiers and refugees, the need to survive outweighs ideals, and some ‘turn on my truth.’

Half Moon is local venue that supports and provides for young people in the community, and the performance of her an important one to show. Engaging the audience and showing a hint of the struggle that some go through, whilst also capturing their attention and provoking debate is hugely important – for all generations. After every show there’s a question and answer session with the cast and team, as well as a day of workshops planned. Whilst I’m not sure that I could say I enjoyed her, I did absolutely love it. Creative activism certainly has a role to play in influencing  the future, and her is a wonderful step towards that change.

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