Filipka Rutkowska, “ The Iron Lipstick ”, performance

The Iron Lipstick is a performance combining spoken word and choreography, in which Margaret Thatcher is embodied and reimagined as a queer spectre, despite her anti-gay politics. Inspired by Damian Barr’s memoir Maggie and Me, a queer coming-of-age story set in 1980s Scotland, the work reanimates Thatcher’s iconic speeches to create a political fiction that calls for the abolition of gender in order to imagine a genderless society. Thatcher becomes a costume to be destabilised, multiplied, and re-performed: domination is recast as drag, and power is dismantled through performance. By queering a figure synonymous with oppression, the piece stages a paradoxical intimacy with history’s demons, exposing how they resurface today while opening the possibility of taming and transforming them. The performance incorporates a replica of Thatcher’s costume, recently displayed at a Christie’s auction.


Performance is realised with the generous support of The Adam Mickiewicz Institute and is  co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland.

The Adam Mickiewicz Institute (IAM) brings Polish culture to people around the world. Being a state institution, it creates lasting interest in Polish culture and art through strengthening the presence of Polish artists on the global stage. It initiates innovative projects, supports international cooperation and cultural exchanges. It promotes the work of both established and promising artists, showing the diversity and richness of our culture. The Adam Mickiewicz Institute is also responsible for the Culture.pl website, which is a comprehensive source of knowledge about Polish culture. More information: https://iam.pl/en.