Plays for Today By Women

Gillian Plowman, Amanda Stuart Fisher, Sonja Linden, Adah Kay, Karin Young, Rachel Barnett, Emteaz Hussain, Rebecca Gillieron, Cheryl Robson, Rebecca Gillieron, Cheryl Robson

• Publisher: Aurora Metro Books
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9781906582111
• eBook ISBN:
  9781906582968
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

Plays for Today by Women

A wide-ranging collection of plays by women dealing with contemporary subjects such as sexual abuse, recession, war, poverty and the complexity of modern women's lives.

Many roles for women and girls provided. Suitable for study or for performance or as part of courses in Women's Studies or Feminist Theatre Studies.

All the plays have been produced and performed in the UK to acclaim and are written by commissioned playwrights.

 

"The expanse of subjects this short collection covers shows that women are not just writing about the kitchen sink, the claim so often levelled. This collection (provides) a snapshot of an exciting time for female writers" @17percent

 

The Plays

For A Button by Rachel Barnett: comic two hander about two friends and the lengths one will go to, to remain best friends.

Yours Abundantly, From Zimbabwe by Gillian Plowman: a middle-aged woman decides to leave her comfy life in the UK and work in a school in Zimbabwe.

Welcome To Ramallah by Sonja Linden and Adah Kay: two Jewish sisters are forced to confront the reality of what their forefathers have done to the Palestinians.

From The Mouths Of Mothers by Amanda Stuart Fisher: a verbatim drama detailing the distressing stories of mothers who learned that their child has been abused.

The Awkward Squad by Karen Young: a three-generational drama involving Northern women who are trying to live and work in recessionary Britain.

Sweet Cider by Emteaz Hussain: In a rundown park, two teenage runaways Tazeem and Nosheen hang out, chatting to the boys and an old bag lady, trying to reconcile being British with their Pakistani cultural traditions.

 

About the editors

Cheryl Robson is an award-winning playwright and publisher who founded Aurora Metro Books over 20 years ago to develop and publish new writers in drama and fiction. She also established The Virginia Prize for Fiction in 2009 to promote emerging women novelists. Previously, she worked for the BBC, ran a theatre company and taught in higher education.

Rebecca Gillieron is an editor and musician with various releases on independent labels in the US and UK. Keen to raise the profile of women and the arts, she has worked in publishing for fifteen years moving from Virgin and Penguin Books into independent publishing via The Womens Press, Marion Boyars and now Aurora Metro Books. 

 

 

 

THE AWKWARD SQUAD

Karin Young

The Awkward Squad opened at The Customs House in South Shields on February 28th, 2012 and was produced by Fresh Glory Productions in association with The Guild Of Lillians and The Customs House with the following cast:

Pam	Libby Davison
Sandy	Charlie Hardwick
Lorna	Barbara Marten
Sarah	Lisa McGrillis
Director	Fiona MacPherson
Script Editor	Jan Worth

CHARACTERS:

Pam

Sandy

Lorna

Sarah

Set: The living room of Lorna’s house, an ex-mining two-up two-down.

ACT ONE, SCENE 1

Lorna is a vibrant woman in her late 60s, who dances slightly from foot to foot, nervous but excited about having her daughters and grandaughter to stay. Cosy and chaotic, her living room doubles as her office-space, with a busy computer station, papers, files and posters on the walls advertising credit unions, local campaigns and community action groups. On the right of the room there’s a door through to the kitchen and the back door of the house. To the left of the room there’s a doorway onto the staircase, at the top of which is a long landing with doors leading to the bedrooms and the bathroom. At the bottom of the stairs is a lobby area and the front door which opens onto the front street.

In the living room, there’s a huge pile of ironing – and a sense that everything could burst from its place at any moment.

Lorna’s daughter, Pam, has arrived for the weekend and is helping her mother put together an award acceptance speech. In her mid-40s, Pam should be comfortable in her cashmere but she’s had the rug pulled from under her and her disappointment seeps through. She calls through to the kitchen.

PAMMam. I’ve got three bits of news from 1985, which one do you want to use?

Lorna comes through with a bottle of wine.

LORNAThe one where I get hold of the microphone. Red OK?

We see footage of Lorna doing a news interview during the miners’ strike in 1984. It’s for lunchtime ITV news with a middle-aged male interviewer. Lorna’s being asked about Thatcher’s speech to the 1922 committee. She holds her own.

INTERVIEWER The miners are now entering their twentieth week of industrial action.

LORNAMiners and their families, that’s right, yes.

INTERVIEWER How did you feel when Mrs Thatcher made her speech to the 1922 committee last night, describing the Falklands war as fighting the enemy without and the strikers as the enemy within?

LORNAIf wanting long-term jobs in the pits makes us enemies within then… OK. It is a war. Destroying an industry just to smash a union is a declaration of war – against us women in particular – coz who’s gonna get left to pick up the pieces? (To Interviewer) Who picks up your pieces?

Pam and Lorna laugh. Pam rewinds the last line.

LORNAWho picks up your pieces?

INTERVIEWER Do you enjoy the public speaking; the attention? Your life must have changed dramatically in the last five months.

LORNAI’ve met some fantastic people. I’ve learned what it is to be despised by your leaders because you won’t be dumb and grateful. I’ve learned that you have to keep fighting. And the downside of all this is I’ve got a pile of ironing to do as big as my bloody house…

Pam laughs and laughs and the screen goes blank.

PAMTwenty-six years later and you’ve still not got round to ironing.

LORNADon’t. It sits there, laughing at me.

PAMSo where are we?

LORNAHang on.

Lorna projects an image of herself, Pam, and Lorna’s other daughter, Sandy, in a strike soup kitchen in 1984. In the picture Lorna looks happy. Sandy, the elder of the two sisters, beams into the camera – loving being the focus. Pam is less sure of herself in the picture. They’re all wearing their ‘Coal ...

Table of contents

• Plays for Today: By Women
• Copyright
• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Yours Abundantly, from Zimbabwe
• From The Mouths of Mothers
• Welcome to Ramallah
• Sweet Cider
• The Awkward Squad
• For a Button