Alternative Theater in Taiwan: Feminist and Intercultural Approac ...

Chou’s other production De ja vu addresses the idea of a woman as a sex toy. The sign “Woman” has been instituted by patriarchy as a cultural product with fixed images, and which also serve as objects. As Luce Irigaray in This Sex Which is Not One¹¹ states, “Mother, virgin, prostitute: these are the social roles imposed on women.” (63)¹² Women, however, as objects also serve as a valuable commodity of exchange among men. To emphasize this object status in sexualized images of women, Chou represents the female character literally as a sex toy in the production De ja vu.

In Laura Mulvey’s view, “… the look, pleasurable in form, can be threatening in content, and it is woman as representation / image that crystallizes this paradox” (188). Mulvey considers a man as an active bearer of the gaze, viewing a woman as a passive icon. In the performance, Chou casts four male actors, but no actress. However, in this performance, a life-size female blowup doll, designed literally to be a sex toy, operates here as the sign of women as a sexualized object. She is dressed in a short black silk negligee. Furthermore, the sex toy is designed with its mouth open (as a simulation of oral sex) and in the performance, it is used by one of the male characters as a sex object. By casting no actresses and employing the sex toy as the prop, Chou presents Mulvey’s theory that a man is the active bearer of the gaze, with Woman as a passive icon.

Wei Ying-chuan’s works, produced by the Shakespeare’s Wild Sisters Group focus on gender, homosexuality, social and cultural issues, and explore theatrical aesthetics. Wei, as a feminist director, emphasizes new theatricality. In a number of Wei’s works, such as Six Memos for the Next Millennium-Movements, she allows the performers to focus on bodily movements by not including any dialogue.