As we approach the second half of Endometriosis Awareness Month, it is vital that we continue to promote research of the condition indefinitely. Endometriosis is an often-painful disease affecting women where tissue continues to grow outside of the uterus, and diagnosis for the condition is a far from simple process.
The dark comedy FAUSTINE is one artistic medium which has been serving women with endometriosis since its first performance at The Hope Theatre in Islington which was supported by the Arts Council. FAUSTINE, inspired by Chirstopher Marlowe’s 16th century play Doctor Faustus, explores a female protagonist, Faustine, suffering with endometriosis on a quest to end all female pain. She faces a fascinating moral dilemma when she is offered the possibility of saving womankind in exchange for selling her soul to the devil. The feminist play by Light at Midnight Theatre is set to show at the Bedford Fringe and the Camden Fringe this summer and Fiona Munro, director and co-producer, speaks to City Press about the play’s journey so far.
“People always write narcissistic men, but they never write narcissistic women,” Munro says on the initial motivations behind the idea of the play. “We wanted Faustine to be a champion of women, and then we started researching what is under-researched. What do people not know enough about? What needs a voice? And that’s when endometriosis came to the forefront.”
Despite one in ten women suffering from endometriosis, the condition remains worryingly under-researched. It has become infamous for its seven-and-a-half-year average diagnosis time. Through the research and development process, Munro and FAUSTINE writer Lucy Padwick came to learn of the various obstacles in the way of diagnosing endometriosis.
“The fact that you have to get invasive surgery just to get that diagnosis is baffling,” Munro says. To require invasive surgery for a diagnosis in itself poses limitations, particularly for teenagers who may be underage or virgins which means they can’t have the surgery. “It’s so debilitating as a condition and for something that’s relatively common it has so little research done about it, because it’s difficult. And female.”
FAUSTINE explores the dismissal of female pain and the gap in medical research that exists due to gender bias. Having spoken with female biochemists and women in medical communications, the creators of FAUSTINE came across common “justifications” for the gap in medical research, such as female hormones complicating clinical trials which results in larger and more expensive studies. Young women trying to grapple with the medical system are often told they are overreacting. As Munro sums it up, “crippling cramps and serious bleeding? Oh, you’re just having a bad period. Go on the pill.”
