Claire Dowie

Claire Dowie (born 1957 Birmingham) is an English writer, director, practitioner and actress. She was a pioneer of Stand-up Theatre in England.^[1] She is a writer for In-yer-face theatre.^[2]

Originally she wanted to be a dancer, toured briefly with a group in Europe, but then went with a solo program in the alternative comedy scene to London around, and moved to Stand-up Comedy. The real breakthrough came when she started writing. Their plays, they often played well and shot himself, have been translated into German, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. Recently she published her first novel,Chaos.

Theatre

Since the late 80s, writes, directs and plays Claire Dowie plays and sits down in it discusses in particular the notions of gender roles and sexuality. Among her most famous pieces of work are Adult Child / Dead Child, (awarded the "Time Out Theatre Award 1988"),Why is John Lennon wearing a skirt?(Winner of the London Fringe Award 1991 "), Drag Act,Easy Access (for the boys) andH to He - I'm turning into a man. She has published two books of her plays.

Why is John Lennon Wearing A Skirt?

In the center of the most successful play by Claire Dowie is a 14 year-old girl who wears pants and would rather play soccer than share the sudden awakening interests of their friends. It traced the mechanisms of growing up without having to denounce. Claire Dowie says of her piece:

"It's about growing up in the late 60s and early 70s. It's my time, but not necessarily my story. It was the beginning of the feminist movement - bra burning, etc., they just started. Mental one was torn between "Man from UNCLE" and "Batman": All the girls had as a role model was Barbie."^[3] The play was enacted at many German theaters.

Premiere: Traverse Theatre Edinburgh 1990

Adult Child/Dead Child

Adult Child/Dead Child is the story of a young person growing up with their parent's impossibly high standards - "One hundred percent do it right, do it the best, be brainy, be talented, be sporty, be good, academic athlete, well-mannered,polite, know it all, do it all, one hundred percent do it right, do it the best", harsh punishments, overshadowment from their sister, people they cannot stand and their imaginary friend, who they name "Benji", after a much loved dog living on the same street. Benji is considered a friend at first until a cruel comment from neighbours results in Benji prompting the "child" to throw a brick through the neighbours' window. It is at this point that the child declares Benji a "monster, and a horror and a terror." Throughout childhood, Benji is kept a secret, even throughout therapy sessions for fear of ending up in "The Snake Pit". Eventually, in the second half of the monologue, the child leaves home and is forced to face a world which expects them to behave in an adult manner, despite their feelings that they are still a child and thus need the support of one. Eventually, due to Benji causing trouble, the child is sectioned and begins to shake off Benji and their fears and begins to live on their own in the "adult" manner which so confused them before, although at the end it is left ambiguous as to whether the character has made a full recovery.

Premiere: Finborough Theatre Club, London 1987

The man in her

(H to He - I'm turning into a man)

Initially Helen believes it's just a weird dream: Since you suddenly grow facial hair ... her foot swells to five shoe sizes ... the right hand starts to live a life of its own and takes her to the breast. But soon must see Helen's face it: it turns into a man! Her reflection is mutated to a stranger. She used to be slim and good and sexy. And young! - Is it the age? The visit her best friend Tina she confuses even more. Helen takes no comfort from her, she wants to play with their masculinity, they will seduce Tina. But then dive five mysterious tea drinkers in Helen's living room and proclaim it the true reason for her transformation: it should be the new Messiah. Brazenly sabotaged Claire Dowie here stereotypical gender notions and describes his own body alignment of male and female in age.

Premiere: The Drill Hall, London 2004

Plays

• Adult Child/Dead Child, Finborough Theatre, London, 1987
• All Over Lovely, Drill Hall, London, 1997
• Cat And Mouse, 1986
• Death and Dancing, BAC, London, 1992
• Designs for Living, Drill Hall, London, 2001
• Drag Act, Drill Hall, London, 1993
• Easy Access (for the Boys), Drill Hall, London, 1998
• Leaking From Every Orifice, BAC Main, London, 1994
• Why Is John Lennon Wearing A Skirt?, Riverside, London, 1991
• The Year of the Monkey, Studio 2, London, 2000

^[4]

Chaos (novel)

2008 appeared in Germany Claire Dowie's first novel, "Chaos" (original:Creating Chaos, published in 2004 in England). In it, Claire Dowie the question of what happens to revolutionaries when the establishment gets involved with them. The protagonist is chaos, the son of a wild hippie commune, which is drawn in the 70s to the country to now to improve the world with rock 'n' roll, free love, drugs, political discussions and the growing of organic vegetables. Chaos grows with his band, the "Frogs", grew into a cult figure. For his fans he is a guru who can defend themselves successfully against the sale of its ideals. Until one day, Tony Blair appears next to him on stage ...

German-language publications

• Chaos, Merlin Verlag 2008, ISBN 978-3-87536-255-8

References

1. ^ http://www.britishcouncil.org/italy-arts-cdowie.htm
2. ^ http://www.inyerface-theatre.com/archive9.html#a
3. ^ The quote is a newspaper article by Terry Grimley (2004) found
4. ^ http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsD/dowie-claire.html

External links

• homepage of Claire Dowie
• "Theatre". The Independent. 26 August 1992. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre--dancing-alone-in-the-dark-claire-dowies-new-work-death-and-dancing-is-about-a-love-affair-between-a-lesbian-and-a-homosexual-caroline-donald-talked-to-her-about-sexuality-gender-and-designer-labelling-1542544.html. 

Persondata
Name	Dowie, Claire
Alternative names
Short description	English writer, director and actress
Date of birth	20 Century
Place of birth	Birmingham
Date of death
Place of death