Why is John Lennon Wearing a Skirt? Finborough Theatre.

Hugely influential in the 1980s and 1990s, queer icon Claire Dowie arguably gave “stand-up theatre” its name, shape, and political identity. Her work, beloved by drama teachers and fringe performers, combines comic monologue, verse, angry polemic, and warm, narrative-driven, confessional storytelling. The Finborough Theatre’s season entitled Claire Dowie’s Swansong features four of the performer’s pieces, performed in repertoire by Dowie herself. Given she is a spritely and hugely energetic 68, one hopes the title is a tad premature.

First performed in 1990, Why Is John Lennon Wearing a Skirt? is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age tale about a young woman’s resistance against traditional feminine gender roles. The piece draws heavily on Dowie’s childhood experiences growing up in Birmingham in the 1960s and 1970s. Much has changed over 60 years, and Dowie’s story of growing up in such a rigidly gendered world feels rooted in a particular era. But the performance is splendid, and Dowie remains an absolute master of her form.

Dowie’s unnamed tomboy protagonist, whom we meet at the age of 14, is more interested in football, music, and fighting than in cooking and dressmaking. Growing up becomes an ongoing series of acts of rebellion against school, family, ghastly boyfriends, and the expectations of her peer group. In sewing class, instead of making an oven mitt, she tacks her skirt closed. Rebellious, but it is a practical defence against the “skirt factor”, otherwise known as schoolboys’ determination to take a peek at her underwear at every possible opportunity. The girl wants to be a boy, or at least to have the privilege and agency that boys have, a desire she sublimates into a passionate love for John Lennon and the Beatles.

The girl’s career officer suggests she become a nurse or a secretary. “Is there a skirt involved?” she enquires. “She said Yes. I said No”. Instead, she takes a job in an accounting firm “where all the girls flirted with all the boys”. Here she rebels against the expectation that she dress attractively by donning culottes and army boots. The outfit does not save her from sexual assault in a stationary cupboard at the hands of her boss. Ironically, perhaps, only when she takes a job at an arts centre staffed mainly by gay men does she begin to find an identity she feels comfortable with.

Dowie’s energetic performance is a masterclass in building audience engagement. Shifts in tone between broad comedy and visceral anger at the vicissitudes and injustices of gender expectations are perfectly marked. Deeply intimate revelations veer effortlessly into bawdy, knowing verse. The content feels very much of its time, but the piece is worth seeing for the performance alone.

Writer: Claire Dowie  

Director:  Colin Watkeys