It's shocking to realise that this is the first new play by a woman to occupy the Olivier, but far more so to witness the appalling indignities hunger-striking suffragettes endured in prison (including force-feeding by nasal tube) in their fight to obtain something that most of us now take for granted.
Playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz brings together various individuals — a titled lady (Lesley Manville) who refuses to listen to the pleas of her perplexed husband to give up the cause, a working class machinist (Jemima Rooper) with whom she embarks on an affair, and Susan Engel's indomitable, elderly Flo who has devoted her life to gaining the vote — to convey with wit, sympathy and even-handed clarity the frustrated determination of being militant, disenfranchised and female in 1913.
Olivier, National Theatre, South Bank, SE1 (020-7452 3000; www.nationaltheatre.org.uk). Until September 24. £10-£30
No comments:
Post a Comment