I Like Me Like This

Company Name: Gay Sweatshop Theatre Company
Writers: Sharon Nassaeur and Angela Stewart Park
Director: Helen Barnaby
Musical Director: Sharon Nassauer
Designer: Kate Owen
Cast: Dee Welding, Trudy Howson, Anne Wilkins, Ros Davis, Vicky Ryder
Piano: Sharon Nasssauer
Drums: Angela Stewart Park
Year: 1997

In 1979 the women’s company produced a musical called, I Like Me Like This. The show is about gay relationships and how individuals can redefine these relationships in a heteronormative world. It highlighted the problems of rape and violence against women a patriarchal culture perpetuates. The play explored contemporary feminist thought, which was drawing attention to men’s attitudes to sex and sexuality in order to understand women’s oppression and self-oppression. The show also involved women playing guitars, a rarity at the time reflecting the growing feminist Punk movement. An album was also released by the company of music from the show.

Although it was criticised for lack in political and artistic merit, the women in the company speak fondly of their experience of the show.

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