Play Details
Context
Artistic Director
Max Stafford-Clark
Co-production with Joint Stock Theatre Company
Dates Performed
Thursday 27th January 1983
Jerwood Theatre Downstairs
Form
Play Details
Synopsis
Fenlands, 1980s
Set against the backdrop of the ever-changing Fen, the play delves into the lives of those bound to its soil. Women bear the brunt of both labour and societal judgments, facing challenges from familial expectations to land corporatisation. The region’s tumultuous past looms large, influencing their present struggles.
Cast & Creative
Cast
Tricia Kelly
Cast
Amelda Brown
Cast
Linda Bassett
Cast
Cecily Hobbs
Designer
Annie Smart
Lighting
Tom Donnellan
What our readers say
A mosaic of vignettes captures fleeting moments in the characters’ lives, sometimes intertwining. This atmospheric play melds folklore and the spectral past with the stark 80s reality, creating a surreal, earthy dreamscape.
What is it like reading this play now? How has it aged? What does it speak to?
The play’s examination of labour, life’s purpose, and capitalism remains strikingly pertinent today. However, the portrayal and language of the Japanese Businessman at the start feels outdated and leans into problematic East Asian stereotypes.
What does it tell us about the past and the present?
It connects and highlights the incredibly complex and problematic history of landownership in the UK across the centuries.
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‘The Welkin’ by Lucy Kirkwood, ‘The Glow’ by Alistair McDowall
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