Supporting local playwrights at Taking The Stage

It’s a well-known fact that women are underrepresented in most industries and it’s no different in the arts. 

We continue to be treated differently, discriminated against, not used to our full potential or paid fairly and continue to feel invisible beside our male counterparts.

At The Play’s The Thing Theatre Company, we continue to fight for women’s rights and gender parity within our industry and offer as much support as we can to ensure women have equal opportunities. We need to have our voices and stories heard within this very male-dominated industry.

Throughout the year, whether it is in our professional capacity or with our non-professional theatre company, Pepper’s Ghost, we continue to provide opportunities to female artists, actors, performers, playwrights, and the next generation by offering platforms to showcase their work within our local area and further afield.

Our Taking The Stage festival is a big production for us and one that we are incredibly proud of. It allows us to support several women from the performing arts, champion their new work, and also start discussions on subjects that we don’t speak enough about.

Now in its third installment, Taking The Stage returns to MK Gallery from 16^th – 19^th October. With a wealth of female talent from the industry far and wide, we welcome you to join us for an inspirational four days.

On the agenda, we include four local playwrights each with a new play. You will recognise them if you have seen one of our recent performances, joined us on tour last year or came to our last Taking The Stage in 2022.

After the success of ‘Darlint Peidi’ the heartbreaking true story of Edith Thompson, Rosemary Hill (our Artistic Director) returns with Fifty Cups of Tea.

“A campaign to boycott all nations that drop bombs on defenceless women and children was launched yesterday by a group of fifty women. They met for tea at the Dorchester Hotel as the first signatories under the League for the Boycott of Aggressor Nations and many of them made speeches for the first time in their lives. ‘Men Make War’ they said. "But women by a united boycott of all goods made by aggressor nations can stop wars.” The Chronicle April 8th 1938. The hostess was Princess Indira of Kapurthala, an actor and broadcaster who went on to work with George Orwell at the BBC. Through the eyes of the four women who were the main organisers the play explores the power of female protest and resistance.

You can see this performance on both our opening night on Wednesday 16^th October and our closing night on Saturday 19^th October.

Our second local playwright is Subika Anwar Khan from Northampton with her play ‘Echo’.

“Echo was written as a response to the West’s support and media exposure of the war on Ukraine and explores online echo chambers. The liberal hypocrisy left many activists and supporters, of the rights of people in other war torn countries like Afghanistan and Palestine, feeling betrayed and devastated by Britain’s coverage. Especially because of Britain’s historical involvement. In an age where we are consumed by technology regularly, mental health is on the rise. Since the pandemic, as a nation we’ve spent more time with ourselves online and in isolation leading to higher rates of suicide and a variety of mental health issues. Echo explores the consequences of regular and instant exposure to devastation thousands of miles away combined with our human condition to be seen and heard in an environment where we do not.”

Subika joined us at our last festival with ‘Echo’ as a scratch piece. This has been developed into the thought-provoking play that you can see on Thursday 17^th October.

Carly Halse is back with her new play Change of Engagement on Friday 18^th October.

“Julie D’Aubigny; master of swords, opera diva, bisexual badass… In 17th Century France Madame D’Aubigny is infamous, known throughout the country for her conquests on both the duelling grounds, and in the boudoir. From cross-dressing, to clashing steel, Julie’s life was as dramatic in reality as her characters on stage. Exploring ideas of “liberté, égalité and sexualité,” the piece questions ideas of gender and sexual identity, whilst it attempts to uncover the truth of Julie’s tumultuous life.”

We have worked with Carly on many projects, including touring with her one-woman play, ‘Now You See Me’, which told the true story of Ruth Ellis – the last woman to be hanged in Britain in 1955. More recently she choreographed a young cast from MK College in ‘Not A Game For Girls’ by Benjamin Peel – the story of the Dick, Kerr Ladies football team. It was fantastically executed!

The last of our local writers is Lisa Stenhouse. She brings her exciting new play ‘The V Word’ to Friday night’s line up.

“Vita Sackville-West was a prolific writer, self-taught gardener, and devoted wife – despite her many affairs with women. Tormented by a vague mood of depression, Vita is alone in her writing room. As she conjures up moments with her beloved husband, the woman who almost destroyed her marriage, and her most famous female friendship, Vita struggles to make sense of her life.

Drawing on a plethora of works, from poetry and dream diaries to lectures and novels, The V Word blurs fact with fiction to explore the elusive pursuit of happiness and need for purpose.” Book your tickets!.

Lisa has been a big part of our productions. You will have seen her in our production of ‘Splendour’ by Abi Morgan and ‘Entertaining Mr Sloane’  by Joe Orton and more recently she played Edith Thompson in ‘Darlint Peidi’ by Rosemary Hill.  

It is important to us to continue supporting female playwrights, especially local ones. It is these women’s stories that need and want to be heard within our communities. By giving a platform to do this means we’re not only empowering playwrights but we’re also helping great theatre reach and inspire diverse and new audiences. Theatre is always best when it is diverse and inspirational.

Without the support of Arts Council England, we wouldn’t be able to put together festivals like this and have the platform to celebrate the work of women in the arts that often go unnoticed. We are incredibly grateful for this support.

We hope you will be able to join us this autumn for some fantastic new plays by inspiring female writers.

Visit MK Gallery’s website for full information and to book your tickets.