The Good Body.
 After
the worldwide sensation that was 'The Vagina Monologues', writer
Eve Ensler travelled the world with it, talking to women and
campaigning for women's rights and women's health through the
fund she instigated in the wake of the play's success. V-day
now funds many projects and continues campaigning for women's
health.
Then, after thirty years of feminist activism, Ensler became obsessed with her belly, and its increasing girth. In an effort to make sense of this body obsession, she wrote a follow up to 'The Vagina Monologues', 'The Good Body', and it has its Australian Premiere at the Adelaide Fringe, performed by leading stage and screen actor Leah Purcell.
"It is massive. It is a massive play. I have learnt 11 different dialects in a week and a bit, monologues of these different characters. It is very hard work and I am working my tail off, They are great monologues, great characters to play with, I guess that is the reward,' begins the energetic Purcell.
"The hardest was LA Jewish American. I kept wanting to be Nanny Fran!" she continues in a decidedly New York Jewish accent.
Ensler has created characters from her travels and talks with all kinds of women about their bodies, and the idea of a 'good body'.
"It is about her journey of being a radical feminist, and the fact she also had a moment when she was lost on body image, and she succumbed to it, hook line and sinker. So it is about her journey of finding or what is it with body, is there such a thing as a good body? What is good?" explains Purcell.
"We get so caught up in it, what are we missing in the wider world? The energy that we spend on pampering ourselves, if we could bottle that energy and put it somewhere else, the world would be a better place."
The question is a very pertinent one, in a world where cosmetic surgery and airbrushed images are everyday, where there are more products than ever to alter our appearance while the wider world seems in a more precarious position than ever. The personal, as well as the political aspect off the play, resonates with Purcell.
"I am female, I have had body issues, those who don't must be Mother Teresa. I think every woman can (identify) and I think every male who has a relationship with a woman, be it a mother, partner, sister, they will also be able to relate to this, and through these monologues."
Narelle Walker
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Leah Purcell performs 'The Good Body' in the Cinema (Level 5 Union House) at Adelaide Uni until Sun 19 March
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