The Vagina Monologues Rating: 3 stars
by Neil Sears and Julia Timms
Blooming in red boas were the Hollywood stars who turned up to tell their secret tales on very female matters in a one-off charity event of the Vagina Monologues.
There were Gillian Anderson, Melanie Griffith, Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett - the Oscar-nominated star of Elizabeth.
Also among a parade of television and film stars were presenters Katie Puckrik and Dani Behr, actress Natasha McElhone and model Sophie Dahl. The Vagina Monolgues is written and performed (usually solo) by New Yorker Eva Ensler but this glittering evening was raising money for various women's charities. And each star took the stage at London's Old Vic swathed in a red boa to celebrate the fact that it was Valentine's Day.
However, as they met for the first time yesterday afternoon - with just a few hours to rehearse before appearing in front of guests paying up to �500 - tensions were almost certainly running high before curtain up.
Melanie Griffith, for one, admitted to feeling incredibly nervous. She said: 'I have never performed on stage before so of course I am scared.'
Sophie Dahl also had reason for feeling on edge - she was accosted by a drunk outside the theatre. As the model made her way to the stage door, a tramp shouted: 'I have seen you before.' An onlooker said: 'He then lunged for her. She looked very shocked, and screamed, but wasn't hit because her PR agent pulled her away. She was through the stage door very quickly after that.'
The controversial production is based on the responses of 200 women who were asked intimate questions about their bodies.
Titanic star Kate Winslet had one of the toughest roles in the often touching show. Her reading was about a teenage girl in Bosnia who had been gang raped.
Ally McBeal star Calista Flockhart had been expected to take part in the readings but was unable to attend. A theatre spokesman said Miss Flockhart, who has recently sparked concerns that she is anorexic, was busy preparing for a new show.
There were almost as many stars in the audience as on stage. Among them were Vanessa Redgrave and her mother Lady Redgrave, Jennifer Ehle, who starred in Pride and Prejudice, Kylie Minogue and pop star Natalie Imbruglia.
Anyone wishing to see the show in future, however, will be denied the sight of so many famous faces.
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