Maren continues the story of Seduction’s Servant, which was written during a production of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. She also delves into the significance of the bodice as a metaphor for the restrictions society puts on us (and the ones we put on ourselves), and tells a painful personal story about her childhood.
TW: childhood trauma, sexual abuse
(If you want to skip ahead, Seduction’s Servant begins around the 11-minute mark)
Follow Maren on Instagram: @supermaren
Facebook: https://facebook.com/maren.montalbano
Tickets for the livestream Bodice Ripper Project show (October 2, 3 & 4, 2020) are available for purchase: https://fringearts.com/event/the-bodice-ripper-project/
Purchase Maren’s debut book, Pandemic Passion: A COVID-19 novella on Kindle: https://amzn.to/3guGck0
If you are a survivor of child sexual abuse and need or would like help, visit The Younique Foundation https://youniquefoundation.org/ for resources in your area, or call 800-656-HOPE (4673) for confidential support.
Transcript
(orchestra tuning)
Hello and welcome to The Bodice Ripper Project, an exploration of sexuality, feminism, and the journey to self-empowerment through the lens of romance novels.
I’m Maren Montalbano, opera singer, coach, and writer.
In this episode, you’ll hear the next two chapters of Seduction’s Servant, which I wrote during a production of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. I’ll also be talking about the significance of the bodice in “The Bodice Ripper Project.”
Please note that this episode contains a discussion of trauma I experienced in my childhood which may be triggering to some. If you want to skip this content, the story of Seduction’s Servant starts at the 11-minute mark, and I’ll see you there. So make yourself comfortable, loosen your bodice, and let’s begin!
(intro music plays)
Welcome back. I’m so glad to have you here. I’m really glad that you pushed play. I’m excited to get into the second part of Seduction’s Servant with you.
Before we do that, though, as is now custom, I wanted to talk about a few things. Specifically, I’ve been getting a lot of questions around the word “bodice.”
Sometimes when I talk about, “Oh, I’m doing this one-woman show and it’s also a podcast. It’s called the Bodice Ripper Project.” I get these blank looks like, “The, the, the body, the what?” And I have to explain what a bodice is.
I do have a feeling that if you’re listening to this, you probably already know what a bodice ripper is. It’s just a racy romance novel, the kind you would see at an airport bookstore, with a cover that has a very good-looking couple entwined in a passionate embrace.
But what exactly is a bodice anyway?
I want to just dive into that pretty quickly here.
A bodice is an article of women’s clothing that covers the body from the neck to the waist. Most of the time that word refers to a separate garment, a historical garment that was worn by women in Europe, between the 1500s and the 1800s.
Etymologically, the term “bodice” comes from, the plural of “body,” because it was created from two pieces and then fastened in the middle. So if you ever go to a Renaissance faire or see a historical drama, it’s that piece of clothing that women wear that laces up in the middle. That’s, that’s the bodice.
Now for the second half of that term “bodice ripper:” the ripper. I think you probably are already conjuring up ideas in your mind, just with that word. It connotes that the man is so passionate for the woman, he cannot contain himself. He must rip off her bodice and have her right there.
That part is exciting, and is certainly something that with these stories I play up and I really have fun with. But I do want to talk a little bit about that shadow side of not being able to control yourself, or ripping something, that really connotes a sense of violence, you know, like Jack the Ripper. Right?
That violence, that danger, can have an element of excitement to it. But I really do want to make it clear that all the action that happens in any of my stories is always consensual. That’s very important to me. And obviously if you’re listening, then you have consented to hear this stuff as well.
I’m always happy to have your consent.
But I also want to turn this idea on its side. Think about that cover of a bodice ripper, where the man is holding the woman in this embrace. Perhaps he’s the one that is going to rip her bodice… but is he? I kind of feel like, especially in all of my stories, maybe she’s so passionate, she needs to rip her own bodice.
The bodice is a garment that is designed to keep a woman’s body in a particular shape. As you got further and further into the 18th and 19th centuries, you had all sorts of undergarments and things: corsets to really create this ideal shape.
And actually what a corset ended up doing, especially in the 1800s is, it would alter a woman’s body so much that her organs would get really smooshed up all in the wrong places. Sometimes ribs would get pushed around. It was not healthy.
And we can go down another road about what fashion does to us and our body image but I’m actually more interested in the metaphor of the bodice. And I’m also interested in exploring the natural shape of who you are . Not just your body, but who you are inside.
What piece of clothing do you put on, metaphorical or not, that molds you into a shape that society finds acceptable? And what are you like when there isn’t anything constricting you?
In the Bodice Ripper Project, both here in this podcast with you and in the show that I’m performing in October, I’m asking myself those questions.
What is it like for me to rip my bodice and be completely vulnerable to all of you?
Let’s try it.
I have one pretty vulnerable story that I want to tell you. I didn’t know exactly when to put it into this podcast. I knew I needed to put it into the show before my one-woman show went up in October, so heck, I’m just going to spill it right now.
I just got the finalized music this week from Melissa Dunphy. It’s amazing. The music is really beautiful. I’ve been working on it. I have to have everything memorized for filming, which is in four days. So I’m working really hard.
And one of the songs at the end is set to a poem I wrote about some sexual abuse that happened to me when I was 12.
I’ve been really hesitant to talk about this when explaining my one-woman show, because I’m worried about spoilers. I want people to just show up, you know: “Oh, cool. Romance novels, silly stories, very sexy,” all that kind of stuff.
I guess I don’t want to lead with abuse and trauma. But every time I do explain the whole thing, I notice that people seem more interested in the show. So I guess it’s not a spoiler.
And the reason that the story of abuse is in my show, and the reason I’m talking about this now, is, it’s not about the trauma. It’s about the healing, the journey out of the trauma. And that journey involves romance novels.
When I read stories about women who have their own sexual agency or the triumph of love overall, I get to rewrite my own story.
At the time of my abuse, I was 12. So reading these stories actually gave me something to look forward to. As I grew into my own sexuality, it actually allowed me to feel comfortable being sexual.
It gave me permission to take pleasure in sex.
And these books showed me there were different ways of looking at relationships than the one that I was seeing at the time.
Writing the poem about my abuse was difficult. I had to take my mind back to that time and tell it as my 12-year-old self. And right now, singing the song is also difficult, because every time those words leave my mouth, I’m taken right back to that moment when I’m 12.
And of course I have to repeat all of this stuff, because I’m memorizing, right? So that I can film it.
So why am I putting myself through this? Am I just retraumatizing myself?
I think it’s important for me to tell my story.
It’s a #metoo story. Right now in this moment in 2020, I feel called to speak up and tell my story. Because it’s also a story of resilience. So yes, I’m bringing up these traumas for myself, but now I have the tools to process them and release them. These are tools that I didn’t have before. I didn’t have them when I was 12, certainly. I don’t think I even had them 10 years ago.
So now I get the opportunity to care for my 12 year old self as a 45 year old, who has decades more life experience.
And that’s really powerful. And I want to share that with you, in case you have a story that you need to tell.
I hope there are some of you listening who need to hear this, for whom my courage can inspire you to be brave.
This is really hard for me to say and to tell, but I’m doing it. I’m doing it for myself, and I’m doing it for you.
This right here, this is the essence of the Bodice Ripper Project.
So there you go. I’ve bared myself to you, and it won’t be the last time.
Let’s get on with the story, which is a fun romp today, in the outdoors.
Where we had previously left off, Lily Trasero accepted a mysterious job to infiltrate the household of Count Almaviva. She bumps into Samuel Madera, a hunky gardener. He works for Count Almaviva. Sparks fly. But of course, before anything can happen between the two of them, Lily gets in the way of a runaway horse, hits her head, but then wakes up that evening, naked, in the count’s hunting lodge with Samuel, and things start to heat up.
She pulled his head back down to hers, wordlessly demanding another kiss, and another and another.
Seduction’s Servant
CHAPTER 3
Six days later, Lily found herself fully ensconced in the staff at the Almaviva residence. When they had arrived that next morning, she was sure the housekeeper would have tossed her on her ear. As it happened, the upstairs maid had just run off with the underbutler, so there was a fortuitous job opening.
Under the housekeeper’s watchful eye, Lily didn’t get very many chances to see Samuel, other than the occasional heated glance from the window as he worked in the garden.
She also tried to get close to the count, as per her mysterious instructions from the peddler, but he was busy chasing Susannah or Barbarina and for some reason, she could not catch his eye.
She decided it was time to get a bit more bold in her attempts to attract the count’s attention. She knew he often took morning walks down by the river running through his estate, so she hatched a plan to run into him “by accident.”
That morning, she finished laying the fires in the bedrooms more quickly than she had ever done in her life, and she rushed down to the river to find a good place for her ambush. She found the perfect spot under a tree by the bank of the river, and sat down to wait…when she heard singing. Was it coming from somewhere in the river, perhaps? Puzzled, she walked towards the sound.
As she rounded the bend of the riverbank, she saw the most glorious sight she had ever seen. Samuel was bathing in the middle of the river, singing a jolly tune. The sunlight glistened off the rivulets of water running down his muscular back.
She realized she had been holding her breath when she started to lose her balance. She steadied herself against a tree and sighed.
He turned around.
Seeing her, his face lit up with a smile. He waded towards her. As he moved into the shallows, the water level dropped, exposing first his nipples, then his belly button, then the well defined muscles leading straight down…with that thought, Lily turned bright red and averted her eyes.
“I was hoping you would show up here.” He had stopped, and though the river was still covering him — barely — she could see clear evidence of his appreciation just below the water level. The water must not be very cold, she thought fleetingly.
“Come join me. The water is fine.”
She mustered a shocked expression. “Sir!” she exclaimed. “How dare you suggest such a thing?”
“How can I not suggest it?” He smirked. “Are you scared that we might…” his voice got deeper and more intimate. His eyes smoldered with promise.
She looked up towards the path to see if anyone was coming. “Well, as it happens, I came down here to bathe as well.” She signaled for him to turn around, but he just grinned and folded his arms, continuing to gaze at her.
After several moments, she sighed and turned herself around and quickly untied her bodice and stays. Moments later, she heard the water slosh and felt his presence right behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her towards him. He was soaking wet, but she didn’t care. The heat between them warmed them even more than the summer sun.
She sighed again and turned towards him. His manhood pressed against her thigh and he put his hands on either side of her face, gazing deeply into her eyes. “Modesty does not become you,” he murmured, before plundering her mouth with his tongue.
As he enveloped her in his embrace, he picked her up and brought her into the water with him. Her skirt and remaining clothes fell away and they were both as naked as Adam and Eve in the middle of the river.
Never breaking from their kiss, each began to explore the other’s body with their hands. She thought for sure she was about to lose herself in everything he was.
All of a sudden, there was a shout from the road. Shocked, she jumped away from him and dove under the water, trying to make her way to the rushes by the bank. It was the count, on his morning constitutional!
CHAPTER 4
“Intruder! Guards! Guards!” The count was on the pathway several yards from where Lily was hiding in the rushes. At first she thought he was alone, but just then a man dressed in rags jumped out from behind a tree to attack the nobleman.
From her vantage point, she only saw a tangle of legs and arms for several moments, and then a blur of naked flesh joined the fray. Samuel had leaped upon the intruder without regard to his state of dress. This clearly surprised the raggedy man more than Samuel’s presence, for he momentarily let go of the count’s lapel long enough for the nobleman to pick his cane up off the ground and begin to soundly strike his attacker.
Soon, the stranger was subdued, looking somewhat confused as a still-naked Samuel bound his hands behind his back with a cloth that had been lying on the ground…was that her fichu? She instinctively reached to feel for it on her neckline when she remembered she also was not wearing a stitch.
She sank further into the rushes.
“Are you alright, my lord?” Samuel rushed to the count, who was leaning against a tree, winded from the fight.
“Thank you, my good man…Samuel, isn’t it?”
Samuel nodded, keeping his eyes downcast.
“Well, if you are going to stay in my service, man, you should try not to catch your death of a cold.” The count removed his jacket and handed it to Samuel, who by this time was shivering quite a bit.
Samuel accepted the fancy garment with a deep bow, putting it on in one lithe movement. Lily sighed.
The count looked sharply in her direction. “What was that?”
“Nothing, my lord, I am sure. I was just there…there is nobody…” just then, an egret swooped down into the middle of the river and snatched something white that had been floating with the current. As the bird flew away, she saw that it had absconded with her chemise!
The count noticed, too, and turned slowly to face Samuel with a sly smile. “Alone, were you?”
Samuel began to blush. The count’s large overcoat covered much of his chest and arms, but Lily could still see that blush went all the way down his body. He began to stammer, “My lord, I…”
The count laughed heartily and clapped Samuel on the back. Samuel blushed even more. “She is a lucky girl, whoever she is.”
They both had their backs to the stranger, who decided to take advantage of their distraction and began to pull himself up to his feet. His hands were still bound, but his feet were not, and by now the count was regaling Samuel with stories of past amorous encounters.
“Oh no you don’t!” she yelled, somehow forgetting her own state of undress and darting out of the rushes in a blur. She grabbed her sodden skirt from the riverbed and threw it over the stranger’s head as she knocked him back down to the ground.
The count and Samuel merely stared at her, mouths agape.
And I will leave it there. Join me next time, when Lily and Samuel are invited to a masked ball!
…but truth be told, she could not be sure who it was taking those liberties. And that excited her even more.
Thanks so much for letting me be vulnerable with you. I hope that what I had to tell you affected you positively in some way.
If you are a survivor of child sexual abuse, and need or would like some help, I encourage you to visit the Younique Foundation, which is at youniquefoundation.org. That’s spelled Y O U N I Q U E Foundation. They have resources for support groups or therapists in your area. Or you can call 1-800-656-HOPE, or +1 800-656-4673 or 1-800-656-HOPE for confidential support.
I actually had originally wanted to talk about the symbolism of the bodice because I also had a costume fitting for my one woman show. And, you know, I tried on a lot of corsets and bodices, so I was thinking a lot about like, what is the shape of who you are?
And by the way, we found some really sexy stuff for me to wear during the filming next week. So I’m really excited. And I also want to say, yes, I’ve had this thing happened to me in my life, but that hasn’t changed who I am. And if I want to get sexy, I’m going to get sexy. I enjoy it, and I hope you enjoy it too.
Speaking of enjoying it, you’ll only be able to get to see that if you buy tickets for the Fringe Festival show. The show is live streamed on October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Just go to fringearts.com. Search for Bodice Ripper Project. Or you could go to bodiceripperproject.com and click the “purchase tickets” link. It’s about halfway down the page.
And while you’re there, go ahead and sign up for my newsletter because you might get some pictures in the newsletter, but I’m not going to show it to the rest of the public.
I absolutely love hearing from you guys. So if there’s anything about today’s podcast that really resonated with you, if you want to continue the conversation, please reach out to me. You can DM me on Instagram. That’s the easiest way to get a hold of me. I’m @supermaren.
And I can’t wait for next time.
The Bodice Ripper Project is a production of Compassionate Creative, and was conceived, written, and edited by me, Maren Montalbano. The background music during the story was excerpts from a public domain version of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro – and the theme music was also written by yours truly. If you liked what you heard, go ahead and give this podcast a 5-star rating – it really does make a difference! – and I’ll see you next time.