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Shades of Mediocrity

When:
Venue: Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square

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Join us for Shades of Mediocrity - a performance about the compromises that women make on their artistic ambitions, and about making art with your friends.

Lily Levinson is tall with curly ginger hair. Maeve Campbell has dark hair and is 5’ 4” short. Maeve is a creative genius. Lily looks pretty good in a waistcoat. Sound familiar?

Using the stories of Simon & Garfunkel and Campbell & Levinson, we want to talk about how the cult of genius excludes women. As young theatre-makers, we are frustrated by our own lack of confidence in contributing to artistic conversations, in social and professional situations. When Simon & Garfunkel reunited in 1981 after a nine-year break, they performed to 500,000 people, the largest concert audience ever, whereas Maeve and Lily would be happy with 50 people.

Shades of Mediocrity is the latest work by Good Friends For A Lifetime. It has been presented at Big Bang and Calm Down Dear at Camden People's Theatre (March and June 2019), and FEMFEST, Theatre Deli (March 2019), and is supported by Theatre Deli.

This presentation of Shades of Mediocrity is hosted by Birkbeck Centre for Contemporary Theatre. It is supported by BIGS (Birkbeck Gender and Sexuality), and takes place as part of Birkbeck's One World Festival 2019.

Audience feedback: 

‘Superbly funny’ 
‘Sparkling and provocative’
‘Hilarious and witty’
‘Excellent lols’

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