Eve Ensler, who told us everything we ever wanted to know about vaginas (“The Vagina Monologues”), shifts her attention to the female teenage psyche in “Emotional Creature,” a theatrical collage of songs, dance, stories, poetry and monologues.
Subtitled “The Secret Life of Girls Around the World,” the earnest, well-meaning effort that opened last night has the dated feel of a ’70s-era happening, dutifully addressing its themes of young female empowerment as if working from a checklist.
A multicultural ensemble of six young performers — Ashley Bryant, Molly Carden, Emily S. Grosland, Joaquina Kalukango, Sade Namei and Olivia Oguma — delivers vibrant turns on a circular set littered with stuffed animals and other teen tchotchkes, while the tone veers wildly from the comical to the deadly serious.
We see one young girl taking endless pictures of herself in search of the ideal Facebook photo, while another — who works in a Chinese factory manufacturing Barbie dolls — imagines sparking a “Barbie Revolution.”
But we also hear about horrors: mass rape in the Congo, genital mutilation in Tanzania and sex slavery in Bulgaria. Body image and food disorder issues are expressed via a barrage of Internet posts from around the world. Female sexuality is addressed in a lengthy poetic diatribe beginning with the defiant proclamation, “My short skirt is not an invitation!”
One girl praises her boyfriend’s thoughtfulness in his choice of condom: “He got a tropical-flavored one because he knows I like that kind of gum.” Another says admiringly of the boy who got her pregnant, “He’s got great Converse.”
It all culminates with a haphazardly assembled tribute to feminist icons past and present, from Joan of Arc and Isadora Duncan to the Russian punk-rock collective Pussy Riot and Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani girl shot last month by the Taliban, followed by an exuberant rendition of the title song.
Judging by the enthusiastic response the other night, “Emotional Creature,” staged in full-bore style by Jo Bonney, succeeds in touching its largely young, female audience. But for those who aren’t in that demographic, a little of this relentless self-expression goes a long way.