RECLAIMING ISABEL PERÓN: THE PRESIDENT HISTORY TRIED TO MR-FORGET

By Natasha U’Ren-Ashdown | @tasha.ua ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Press Invite

It’s rare for a show to win me over so quickly, but Sh!t Theatre’s Evita Too had both me and the entire room laughing from beginning to end. This unique masterpiece encapsulates the story of Isabel Perón ‘the first president of a country in the history of the entire world’ who led Argentina for a turbulent 18 months, presented in a way that is both wildly entertaining and impressively grounded in fact.

The opening five minutes perfectly set the tone for the night ahead, as researchers, writers, and performers Rebecca Biscuit and Louise Mothersole rollerblade onstage completely naked—yes, completely naked! Within seconds, they captivate the audience while posing a disarming and powerful question: what do women need to do to be remembered? From there, the show launches into a sharp, tongue-in-cheek examination of the systematic erasure of women, exposing the gender inequality that has left figures like Isabel Perón excluded from historical recognition.

With razor-sharp humour, Biscuit and Mothersole confront hard-hitting themes including death, fascism, male dominance, politics, gender, and systemic bias. All of this remains firmly rooted in the real events of Isabel’s life. Through smart, hilarious original songs and inventive storytelling, enhanced by multimedia elements such as voiceovers, projections, props, and audience interaction, they hold the entire room in rapt attention. They trace Isabel’s origin story from her difficult childhood following her father’s death to her work as a go-go dancer at Happy Land. What follows is escalating absurdity: hosting her husband’s ex-wife’s preserved body in the family home and falling under the influence of a well-known Argentinian man known as “the Wizard”—yes, you did read that correctly. It becomes strikingly clear that the forgetting of such a remarkable story is no accident, but rather the result of a broader, systemic pattern in which women’s achievements are diminished or erased, particularly when they attain positions of power historically reserved for men. Thanks to Sh!t Theatre, Isabel’s legacy is brought vividly back into public consciousness, and it’s hard to imagine anyone Mr-forgetting either her story or this performance anytime soon!

Throughout the performance, Biscuit and Mothersole repeatedly emphasise that Isabel’s story has not been recorded with the same care, seriousness, or prominence afforded to her male predecessors. This point lands most powerfully during their vlog-style trip to Argentina, where they discover there are no books about Isabel in the politics section of the library, no statue of her at the Pink House (Argentina’s official presidential workplace) despite monuments to male presidents, and even staff at her late husband Juan Perón’s themed restaurant recalling only his first wife, Evita, rather than Isabel herself. The performers’ passion in exposing this erasure, and the lengths they go to in demanding equal recognition, are both striking and deeply affecting.

One of the show’s highlights is Biscuit and Mothersole sharing the hilariously unsolicited advice they’ve received from male audience members during previous runs. This includes, memorably, an email from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s lawyers warning of potential legal action over their use of his music and references to Tim Rice’s Evita, a musical about the deceased first wife of Isabel’s husband, Eva Perón. Packed with wit, intelligence, and sharp self-awareness, the show is a joy for theatre-goers of any gender or age. I urge you to see it. Sh!t Theatre, I will not miss-forget you!

Content Warnings: Nudity, grief, death, mentions of murder, and sexual assault.

Sh!t Theatre: Evita Too is running at Southbank Centre until Wednesday 31 December.

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Photo Credit: Ali Wright