BOOBS
BOOBS is a tiny gem; an intimate, reflective, and enlightening cabaret offering from a talented, humble crafter of songs and stories with no hint of the didactic. With three shows only at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, BOOBS then crosses the continent for a season during the Perth International Cabaret Festival. Catch it if you can.
Selina Jenkins has described her song writing as a little like ‘keeping a journal or taking a photograph… (capturing) a thought or a moment in time and allows me to process that’. This deeply personal approach gifts an audience cabaret gold: all original songs and a story encompassing humour, danger, sorrow and a little bafflement. Additionally, Jenkins’ voice is full of warmth and sweetness, easily shifting between a breathy alto, honeyed high notes and the occasional growly belt, her individual, nuanced and beautiful vocals are a joy to listen to. There will be no spoilers or reveals in this review as the story should be experienced with fresh appreciation. I certainly enjoyed the anticipation provided by the show’s ambiguous description in the Festival brochure: ‘BOOBS is a ground-breaking tale of mammary proportions that follows one woman and her two boobs through a life changing decision, a million opinions, a natural disaster and an 'Australian first'’.
After a short monologue with vivid, image-rich language to set the provoking scene of a woman waking from surgery feeling like she was ‘cut in half… by a freight train’, Jenkins warmly introduced herself. Accompanied by a recorded, rhythmic loop track of her own voice, the first song impishly includes every euphemism you can think of to describe breasts. She assures the audience that there will be a lot of boob content in the show, obviously, but hopefully as well, support, relief and a sprinkling of fun as, for instance, when you remove that bra after a long day. Or for those that don’t wear that particular item, compare it to perhaps the relief of removing a pair of tight trousers.
Another song talks of ‘nips’ and areolae, whether they be the size of “butter plates or small as a tack” and the glaring inequity of our societal policing of women’s nipples. As we all recognize, it is fine for those identifying as male to stroll around topless but flash a female boob or nipple on socials and you are banned for indecent content. In parts of the performance, Jenkins includes snippets of advocacy and highlights the double standards applied to the modification of body parts. Singing ‘take the tit out of identity’ she points out how augmenting/implanting your breasts, nose, cheeks, butt, or whatever, to your desired size or shape, larger or smaller, is perfectly acceptable. These adjustments also do not generally require psychiatric appointments and deep justification. She is also quick to point out that her reasoning is not directed toward those who choose to alter their appearance - your body, your rules. However, as is revealed in this particular story, Jenkins is highlighting the anomalies she faced when choosing to make changes to her own body.
Just as delightful as her singing voice and with a fine degree of emotional intelligence, Jenkins’ approach to storytelling is subtle and poetic. She leads us on a captivating journey from Melbourne to Florida as she survives personal and actual storms surrounding her desire to undergo major elective surgery. Chronicling a slightly unusual relationship with her own breasts since they first ‘popped’, Jenkins identifies as a proudly queer, cisgender woman.
With altered lighting state and using a recorded, disembodied male voice, Jenkins ‘dialogues’ with a psychiatrist who she is tasked with seeing as part of the process to achieving her goal of elective surgery. There are wonderful reflections during these sections around gender, identity and appearance and even mental health and again, the noted disparity among attitudes to female and male bodily alteration.
BOOBS was named as ‘One of the Top Five Stage Shows of 2019’ by The Age and featured as a part of Melbourne Midsumma Festival program in 2020. It also received four 2020 Green Room Awards for Writing, Original Songs, Best Artiste & Production in the Cabaret category. Also winning Best Cabaret and Best Feminist Work at the 2019 Melbourne Fringe, the show is peppered with beautiful original songs, comedy and serious reflection. However, the message is simple and elegant: be gentle, everyone has a story that you may not be privy to and all of us aspire to find our own inner peace, through whatever way possible.
Lisa Lanzi
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