WITHOUT further ado, let's get to the bottom of what the forthcoming double dose of theatre concerns; black women's rears and the concept of being 'bootylicious'.
A double-bill of two original productions - The Resurrection of Little Sarah and The Backside Monologues - explores issues and stories surrounding the appreciation and exploitation of well-rounded behinds, such as those sported by sex symbols Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez.
The two plays get their first London staging at 7.30pm on Saturday, June 27 at Harrow Arts Centre, in Uxbridge Road, Hatch End.
Unity Arts, from Reading, Berkshire, is behind The Resurrection of Little Sarah. The theatre company's artistic director John Sailsman, who directs both halves of the evening, says: "It's the true story of Saartjie Baartman, who was a South African slave in the 1800s brought to this country and exhibited in a freak show because she had a big bottom.
"She was exhibited in places like Piccadilly Circus, then sold and taken to France, where she died a penniless prostitute. It's quite a sad story.
"We use digital film, music and dance. We've actually picked on that whole idea of the physical body.
"We play on the fact that Saartjie Baartman was a dancer and thought she was coming to England to dance."
Baartman's body was stuffed and kept in a French museum until 2000, when the then South African president Nelson Mandela helped with the repatriation of her remains to her homeland.
Oxford-based Kuumba Nia Theatre Company presents The Backside Monologues, a 'two-person monologue'. It is a one-act play about love, friendship and the ups and downs of a life journey in the context of possessing a shapely behind.
"There's dance, poetry and music and that creates a more emotive piece rather than just a straightforward monologue," John says.
"The plays complement each other. They explore the idea of how female sexuality has been defined by the size of the bottom as opposed to any other part of the body.
"We want to present social issues without falling into the musical theatre mould."
