Shameless Hussy Productions tackles modern day girl on girl crime in Girls Like That at Templeton Secondary School. The 10-person cast, entirely made up of teenage girls (many of whom are Templeton students), impress the audience with their ability to grapple with the intense subject matter which frankly, many adults struggle with. No doubt, this is in part due to the school’s “Girls in Leadership” club.
“Slut, skank, scuzz – you deserve everything coming to you.”
The play follows a tightly knit group of girls from childhood through high school, jumping back and forth in time and showcasing the judging and shaming that takes place at every age of a girl’s life. However, in the same vein as the 2004 film Mean Girls, the play turns your attention not to the way women are oppressed by men, but to the crimes girls commit against each other.
The main storyline is interwoven with explosive musical ensembles and monologues from women of different generations throughout. The cast dances in sync to songs heavy in their message of girl power like Beyonce’s “Run the World (Girls)” and Little Mix’s “Wings,” drawing a stark contrast with the way the girls gang up on and slut-shame their “friend” in the story. Moreover, the comedic monologues from a flapper girl, a World War II air pilot, a hippie and a Melanie Griffith-style working girl serve to demonstrate the adversity women have faced through the ages and the way women have had to stick together to overcome oppression. This again points a disappointed finger at the way girls treat each other in the present.
The play’s main objective is clear, to blatantly show the way sexism and misogyny are indoctrinated by the girls themselves and how this is all aided by modern technology. It’s not that bullying has never existed and girls have never been mean to each other, but the game has changed. It is so easy to anonymously harass someone from behind a screen or to like and share gossip with the tap of a button. What’s easier is to blindly accept discourse like “she was asking for it” and “boys will be boys.” It’s hard to challenge authority, to go against the mob, but these young women, mature beyond their years, display the dramatic consequences of not doing so.
For tickets to this impressive and important production at Templeton Secondary School on now until November 10th visit Eventbrite.
Review by Contributing Writer: Nicole Alivojvodic
Photos Credit: Tim Matheson
ILiveInEastVan.com 
Leave a Reply