Helen M. Nightingale

The best collection of suffrage plays on offer

Introduced and set in historical context by Dr Susan Croft, formerly Curator at the Theatre Museum in London, with a chronology of suffrage drama from 1907-1914. 

The astonishing women involved in the Actresses Franchise League set up their own theatre companies and engaged with the battle for the vote by writing and performing campaigning plays all over the country. They launched themselves onto the political stage with their satirical plays, sketches and monologues whilst at the same time challenging the staid conventions of the Edwardian Theatre of the day. The legacy of their inspiring work to change both theatre and society has survived in the political theatre, agit-prop and verbatim theatre we know today. 

Full playtexts from the following:

’How the Vote was Won’ by Cicely Hamilton and Chris St. John
’The Apple’ by Inez Bensusan
’Jim s Leg’ by L.S. Phibbs
’Votes for Women’ by Elizabeth Robins
’At the Gates’ by Alice Chapin
’In the Workhouse’ by Margaret Wynne Nevinson
’A Change of Tenant’ by Helen Margaret Nightingale.