Female nudity on stage

Just checking my tickets to ensure I have Red Barn on the list. Be right back

Interesting to read her perspective on this. In my experiences seeing theatre mostly in New York (and London only recently), I feel like I've seen a fairly equal amount of male nudity vs. female nudity, with male nudity being perhaps slightly more frequent. And I feel like the male nudity I've seen has often been just as -- if not more -- gratuitous than the female nudity. I totally get where she's coming from though. I think she rightly points out that there's a different culture around female nudity than male nudity.

I for one love a good bit of nudity, male or female, it can liven up the dullest evening. It's the only chance I get at seeing naked women, they have such beautiful bodies.

I went to a whole season of theatre at the Marlborough (queer venue in Brighton) and EVERY show had a lesbian get naked in it. I got to see all manner of differently attired vaginas, it was very educational. My favourite was the one where she stood in a washing up bowl and cleaned her majestic garden

I must be going to the wrong shows because I'm pretty sure that I've seen way more male than female nudity over the years. At the theatre anyway. Worst example I can remember was The Judas Kiss where one of the actors spent ages on stage with his meat and two veg flopping about. He wasn't even that necessary to the play, I don't think he had a line to deliver (I'm trying to resist the temptation to say he only had a small part). It seemed completely gratuitous.

I can't remember ever seeing a nude scene (male or female) where it seemed especially necessary.

Yes, absolutely, that's what I thought reading the article. I think 90% of nudity I've seen onstage is male. And, as somebody else said, I think it's more tv/movies to show off naked women for no reason at all.

But when is it absolutely necessary? I don't mind a bit of nudity really. As long as it's done in a proper way. I,for example hate striptease-shows and magic mike-kinda entertainment, but the nudity in Mrs Henderson, I thought was really nicely done. Also the bed scene in Love Story was done clever. (Not sure if that's the same everywhere, but in NL Jenny was topless, but her hair (It's was Celinde Schoenmaker) was covering most of her breasts anyway.

The only show I have seen with nudity is Mrs Henderson Presents and that is ecause it is essential to the plot. However, it is tastefully done using special lighting to just shine on the faces and there is nothing wrong with it. We went as a family and it was all fine, certainly wasn't the worst thing about the show

Glad to see the original post is being treated with appropriate light-heartedness, politeness and consideration over here. Same can't be said for everywhere...

Yeah it was essential, but the WHOLE POINT of the show itself was to get nudity on stage in my view, it follows a long line of similar shows which very knowingly use nudity (or the prospect of it) to attract a mainstream theatre audience - Equus, Steaming, Calendar Girls, The Graduate, etc. etc. etc.

My point is that sometimes it is the show itself which is gratuitous, not the nudity in it.

I don't remember ever seeing a play where nudity seemed gratuitous to me. It has never been something that affected my appreciation of a production in any good or bad way. It usually seems natural to me.

I do, however, find that most sex scenes in films could be cut without making really any difference to the story. Most of the time they don't advance the plot, provides a psychological insight about the characters or show us something we didn't know about them, or add any dramatic information. It's not that I dislike these scenes, I just find them dramatically useless. But still, I'd much rather have the gratuitous sex than the violence.

It's really not anything to do with stigma, it's to do with the fact there is enormous pressure on actresses to do nudity. For all that some individuals claim nudity is empowering, being forced to take your clothes off in front of total strangers, your friends and family, your colleagues, etc. can be extremely uncomfortable and even traumatic. Yet many actresses are put in the position of feeling nudity is simply something they have to do to have a career. In my experience there is far more gratuitous female nudity at the lower ends of the fringe scene (profit share pub fringe) and the ways directors and even agents pressure and force actresses to strip is really disgusting. There's one director who's infamous for having screaming abusive rants at his actors and he shoehorns female nudity into almost everything. Not paid, either.

In an industry that's already rife with exploitation and inappropriate (or no) boundaries, including sexual boundaries, the assumption that it's fine to demand that women strip on cue and that nudity is simply part of being an actor is highly problematic.