Seven

by Paula Cizmar, Catherine Filloux, Gail Kriegel

This profound listening experience is a live recording of a January 2017 L.A. Theatre Works production, directed by Judyann Elder. Based on interviews with seven female activists from around the globe, this tour de force was created in 2006 with the support of Vital Voices Global Partnership. The voices have their own distinct accents, indicating a range of cultural heritage, from Northern Ireland to Cambodia. They speak unabashedly about their efforts to provide women the support, protection, and resources they need for their success and well-being. The production includes post-performance panel discussions with one of the original seven, Russian activist Marina Pisklakova-Parker, and playwrights Paula Cizmar and Susan Yankowitz. SEVEN emphasizes the truth that the dignity and rights of women are essential to every culture around the globe. E.E. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2017]

Length: 2 hrs and 10 mins

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook

2 pages, Audiobook

First published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This provocative play gives voice to seven women activists from around the world--Pakistan, Argentina, Northern Ireland, Russia, Guatemala, Nigeria, and Cambodia. Seven award-winning female playwrights interviewed seven female activists around the globe about their work to improve the lives of women. Although the stories are very personal, the impact is universal--these are brave and intelligent women fighting dangers of all sorts to promote better lives for women in their countries. The play itself is only about 1 hour (just 1 disc), and it's followed by a panel discussion among a few of the playwrights and activists. It's a very powerful piece of theatre which has been staged around the world, even in homes, because it requires neither props nor professional actors, just voices to express these individual battles against injustice. This audio version is especially effective.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one is hard to rate. The stories being told are all real and amazing and powerful. The acting (as I did the audio while I read along with the print copy) was superb. I enjoyed the post-drama interviews that were added in to give context and explain. It was especially nice to hear how these women lived after the play was first written and performed.

But as powerful as the stories were, I wanted more. More context. More of each woman's story. More elaboration og some things, not all. I was just left wanting more from it. And the hardest thing is, I am not even sure what more I want.

Maybe it was the style this was written and performed in. It is not a series of dialogue between the women or even speech after speech. It was each woman going about saying a piece of her story, then another, then another. I do think this was effective as the women then remained identifiable and unique, yet their stories were made universal. But I also felt I could not invest !s much as I would have liked in each story because it was about to bounce to the next. I guess my issue, then, is that the piece bounced from woman to woman so much that I felt the punch of some information and some of what was said was almost glanced over or lost.

I did enjoy this and am very happy I read it to learn of some fabulous feminist stories I hadn't heard of. And for that, I have to give this 4 strong stars.

[Kally · Rating 4 out of 5]

The play itself is very impactful. The way they wove it together was a great effect. The after panels were less interesting.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Works better conceptually than in the theater, or at least the audio theater. Comes together at the end but can't really say it was worth it...