Review of The Mary Wollstonecraft Live Experience!

Despite an amused interest in catwalk fashions I had never before seen white linen over a cuboid wooden crinoline. The image on the big screen of women riding about on these square hobbie horses was a perfect metaphor for the constraints of eighteenth century fashion and convention; impractical to the point of ridiculous (not that the average stiletto heal is much better). However, last night these skirts were only filled on the big screen, around the park the actual costumes sat empty, deflated, Wollstonecraft-less.

There's the nub of the matter, surely in The Mary Wollstonecraft Live Experience! there should be a live Mary Wollstonecraft? Perhaps answering questions or even just basking in the evening sun like it showed on the fliers? But Mary was confined strictly to celluloid. While the dress, set up so the kiddies could have their photos taken with it, only highlighted her absence.

There was excellent live jazz performed by the Dedrie Cartwrite Trio, which was so good that people came from the pubs nearby to ask who it was. But we had not come to listen to Jazz, there had been no particulars about the Dedrie Cartwrite Trio in the pre-performance advertising.

There was a live Internet feed broadcasting us, the audience-picnickers, to whatever surfers might be happen to drop by. The aim of this was apparently to make the event "Global not Local" but the excitement which might have been induced by such a stunt 15 years ago was, in 2007, pretty non-existent. The audience knew that no one was watching and the moment they were asked to hold placards up showing their messages to the world, the atmosphere turned to one of embarrassed people trying not to let the event organiser down.

The kernel of the night was the film. It was a recording of the 2005 event in which a small troop of actors including three "Mary Wollstonecrafts" and a "director" set about making the film of Mary Wollstonecraft's life in Stoke Newington. The common enough film within a film conceit worked particularly well in this context, allowing modern day comment and criticism on eighteenth century characters. This blurring also allowed the audience to get involved as "extras". However the film of the 2005 event never felt like an artwork in its own right, indeed many of the people who came to the park last night had come merely to see if they could spot themselves in this recording. Thus, whilst the evening was pleasant enough, it felt more like a genteel after show party than an event in itself.

Review by Holly Hopkins