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Plays about the Women’s Movement in today’s theatre

If you have written a play about the suffrage movement, published or not, that you would like to add below, please contact us

 

Britain

 

Her Naked Skin by Rebecca Lenkiewicz (Olivier, National Theatre, 2008)

London: Faber and Faber, 2008

The first newly commissioned play on the stage of the Olivier (and about time!) Her Naked Skin explores the growing attraction between a working class and an upper class woman as their activism in the suffrage movement and experience of jail bring them together.

Link to review and letters

Her Naked Skin. Copyright: National Theatre

 

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Friends of Alice Wheeldon by Sheila Rowbotham (DAC Theatre Company, 1980)

London: Pluto Press, 1986

Tells the story, with songs, of a Derby socialist and feminist, her involvement in the suffrage and Labour movements and the accusation  that she plotted to assassinate Lloyd George during the First World War looks at ‘ the interaction between suffrage supporters, syndicalists, shop-stewards and ethical idealists, at the anti-war movement and at the state intelligence networks constructed to hound down those opposed to the war’.


Woman by Ian Flintoff (Pitchfork Productions, Baron’s Court, 2003) 

‘Feminist eyes on the future’ THEATRE WOMAN Baron's Court, W14 Rachel Halliburton

"INTERNECINE feminist politics, sibling rivalry and a goldfish called Germaine are just some features of Ian Flintoff's ambitious play, which examines conflicts between British feminism at the turn of the century and its more complex image today. How would the world fare with a female president of the United States? Would we be better off if Foreign Secretary Jack Straw were a woman? And why – despite feminism's significant advances – can we only discuss political questions posed in 1913 as wavering hypotheses rather than historical facts? Inevitably, because of the vast canvas he has mapped out, Flintoff's drama visits interesting landmarks in the feminist debate yet still gives the impression that a large amount of territory has been unexplored. What is interesting is his decision to put the microscope on the conflicting motives of early feminists such as Emmeline Pankhurst's daughters Christabel (Johnanne Murdock) and Sylvia (Daily Douglas). This drama would be far stronger if he devoted the whole script to their embattled aspirations, and allowed women of today to draw their own contrasts. Murdock and Douglas exude spirit and assertiveness, but could be polemically sparkier. Flintoff's performance resonates with gravitas in an evening that – even so – raises far more questions than it answers. Until 72 April. Box Office: 020 8932 4747"

Tuesday 22 April 2003, Evening Standard

 

The Sound of Breaking Glass by Sally Sheringham.

(Performed at a reading by Actors and Writers London (www.hawguk.org), June 2009)

When dutiful banker’s wife Emma steps out of her traditional role to become a suffragette – later enduring prison and forcible feeding – the consequences on her marriage and life are far-reaching. Set between 1908 and post-World War One, the play is one woman’s personal journey set against the broader backdrop of historic events. It’s written with a light touch – and a modern audience in mind.

 

Canada

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The Fighting Days by Wendy Lill

(3f,1m)

Vancouver: Talonbooks 1985) and in Canadian Theatre Review, 42

Exploration of the suffrage activism of Candians Francis Beynon and Nellie McClung.


Birdwoman and the Suffragettes by Monique Mohica

(5f,6m)

in Princess Pocahantas and the Blue Spots and with Birdwoman and the Suffragettes Toronto: Women's Press, 1991

Native Canadian playwright’s account of white suffragettes' romanticisation of the Indian Sacajawea as loyal and devoted guide to Lewis and Clark

 

The Making of Warriors by Sharon Pollock

(6f,4m)

in Airborne: Radio Plays by Women, ed. Ann,Jansen, Winnipeg: Blizzard Publishing, 1991

On suffrage activism in Canada

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