an interview with Thea Elmsley on #MenToo the musical

#MenToo is a musical comedy which follows the journey of four meninists attempting to save their community space from becoming the first women’s health centre in the UK. Set to all-original songs such as ‘the brotest’ and ‘a catcall for help,’ brian, dave, casey and quest brave the obstacles of a post-#MeToo world. #MenToo was created by a group of women writers, musicians, producers and filmmakers in response to the weaponization of identity politics that we’ve witnessed over the last 5 years. In combining diabolical satire with the glitzzy aesthetic of musical theatre, we wanted to portray offensive, deeply flawed individuals in humorous and unexpected ways. Mxogyny sits down with director, Thea Elmsley, to chat about the creation of #MenToo.

[image description: promotional poster for #MenToo the musical, depicting the actors amidst an iridescent red backdrop]

Can you introduce yourself, and #MenToo? 

Hello! My name is Thea Elmsley and I am the writer, director and composer of #MenToo. Up until very recently I was a fourth year Edinburgh student studying history but now I am an unemployed graduate (relatable huh?) I wrote #MenToo over a year ago in Berlin and from January 2021 on-wards it became a reality. #MenToo is both glitzy but dark, camp but yet also a disconcerting in-sight into the violence of toxic masculinity. It focuses on four men’s rights activists who all attend male yoga together (Broga) and fear their studio will get shut down and replaced by a wxmen’s health centre. The show sees the four men singing and dancing as they seek to defeat the wxmen, but in the process, they reveal their dissatisfaction with life, the failure of their relationships and, for one, a struggle with identity and sexuality which has been suppressed for a while. This sorry band of merry men think they run the world, but in actual fact are tragic hateful figures who barely understand themselves let alone the world surrounding them. 

[image description: a still from #MenToo, depicting the four actors holding up protest placards reading ‘feminists are loser virgins’ and ‘go home slags’]

Why did you think it was important to write and present #MenToo now? What brought you to the idea of satirical comedy? 

I find that analysing gender politics and dissecting toxic masculinity is almost always pertinent because they dominate wider global culture and indeed our individual lives so frequently. The im-mediate inspiration for #MenToo came from when I attempted to access a number of wxmen’s crisis centres in London and was told I wouldn’t be able to receive help for up to 4 months be-cause money was so short and there were so little facilities. I couldn’t believe that in a capital city, resources were so low and furthermore, what the implications would be for those who lived in the middle of nowhere or didn’t know where to go. I wanted to write about how easy it is for wxmen’s aid to be neglected in favour of petty politics or individual’s self-interest, especially in an age where some individuals claim that women are now the ‘dominating’ sex. #MenToo was born to firstly satirise the neglect for wxomen’s health in the country, by showing how a group of men who wanted to keep their Broga studio could defeat the building of the “first women’s health centre in the general North-West area”. Secondly, #MenToo was created to present the hate and misogyny of these men’s rights activists but places them within a surreal musical theatre space, thus undermining the violence of their words. When theatre, TV or film focuses on violence injustice against wxmen it can often be overly-didactic and re-traumatising. Satirical comedy is a way to provide introspection and education without causing fear. 

[image description: a black and white still from #MenToo depicting the actors sitting and leaning against chairs]

You mentioned that some members of your team were first-time filmmakers, what was the creative process behind #MenToo? Did the covid-19 pandemic affect this creative process at all? 

We had an absolutely incredible crew of female camera operators, art directors and assistants which was always the intention when we began #MenToo. Everyone who was involved was (or is still) a student and generously gave up their time to get stuck in, especially when the covid-19 pandemic threw up almost any road-block you could possibly imagine. #MenToo was originally written only for theatre, designed to have a live band and some audience engagement which would have been perfect in the beautiful Anatomy Lecture Theatre of Summerhall which is where the show took place. Unfortunately, an audience was not possible and thus #MenToo became a ‘digital theatre production’ and involved a vast amount of camera work, sound engineering and also a fair few tears! Having a very small cast worked to our advantage and we are incredibly lucky to have been able to still create something in such an arduous time. However, dream situation would be to debut #MenToo as live theatre and perhaps take it to the fringe next year. 

Did you find any difficulties with tapping into the voices of these ‘absurd’ men who believe the world has wronged them in one way or another? 

A lot of my research was conducted via Twitter and reddit and wow…it’s a dark world out there. There are threads about how deceitful make up is, millions of hits under the hashtag #feminismis-cancer and, in general, just a lot of very heavy and freaky reading. It wasn’t hard to find the dark content but what was more complex was attempting to understand where these men were coming from and what had led them to develop such an intensely hateful perspectives. However, I would be lying if I didn’t say that some of the #MenToo characters are based on people that I know or have encountered in my life. Furiously bitter academic who resents change and ‘woke culture’…did someone say Edinburgh University? Entitled and privileged womanizer who uses a standing desk and money like its toilet paper...has anyone been on Hinge recently? 

[image description: a still from #MenToo, depicting one of the actors holding up a placard reading ‘go home slags’]

Is there anything in particular you want the audience to take away from this comedy? 

The first thing we would like the audience to take away is that there is a wonderful charity called Saheliya which is a specialist mental health and well-being support organisation for black, minority ethnic, asylum seeker, refugee and migrant women and girls (12+) in the Edinburgh and Glasgow area. 50% of the #MenToo proceeds went to Saheliya but we would like to encourage people to check them out and consider donating! The overarching point of the musical is that wxmen’s charities are regularly neglected and still need a lot of financial support. I’d also encourage people to contemplate the other message of #MenToo which is to look at constructions of masculinity and to understand how misogyny and hate is often bred from internal conflict, isolation and a desperation to have an identity. 

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Thea Elmsley’s theatrical experience began early on as a performer in Young Footlights in London. At the University of Edinburgh, she expanded her earlier passion into tangible skills, producing numerous Bedlam Theatre productions, including ‘The Closing of a Small and Insignificant Bowling Alley’ (January 2020). When working on these productions as a producer, however, she found herself to be far more interested in the role of directing. #MenToo allowed her this opportunity realise her talent as a creative director.

You can watch #MenToo the musical by visiting their website.