Flinn Works: Men in Feminism – Vinod, Thomas und U-Mugabo

The three performance parts of Men in Feminism are shown one after the other: The physical theater performance Vinod (India) deconstructs Bollywood’s images of masculinity. Thomas (Germany/Switzerland) is a subversive stand-up comedy performance, and U-Mugabo (Rwanda) is a feminist choreography developed by male dancers.


Vinod

Vinod is a real man, as masculine as can be. Vinod is an actor. Vinod is in love. And true to his name, Vinod is a joy, at least he thinks so. Vinod is a performance that explores the idea of the feminist man in today’s India with a male performer from the upper caste. Between confession and criticism, ritual and rebellion, the performance moves like an ongoing rehearsal – a space in which masculinity is performed, disrupted, and suspended. Guided by a disembodied voice – at once director, conscience, and social echo – the performer allows personal memories to collide with myths, cinema and traditional male ideals.


Thomas

What lies behind failure as a man in patriarchy and failure as a stand-up comedian who is no longer funny? Is this the tentative beginning of “Thomas” unlearning old patterns? With a microphone on an empty stage, Thomas and Lisa perform their way through bad jokes, statistics, extreme situations and suppressed feelings. They explore the gap between attentive masculinity and feminist demands.


U-Mugabo

There is no word for feminism in the Kinyarwanda language, even though gender equality is promoted politically at every level in Rwanda and 64% of the seats in parliament are held by women. Through movement, words and collective exploration, U-Mugabo questions masculinity and cultural privileges and encourages dialogue. The performance shows how two Rwandan men perceive and struggle with political equality and female power.