The Welkin by Lucy Kirkwood

The Welkin by Lucy Kirkwood

Rural Suffolk, 1759. As the country waits for Halley's Comet, Sally Poppy is sentenced to hang for a heinous murder. When she claims to be pregnant, a jury of twelve matrons are taken from their housework to decide whether she's telling the truth, or simply trying to escape the noose.

With only midwife Lizzy Luke prepared to defend the girl, and a mob baying for blood outside, the matrons wrestle with their new authority, and the devil in their midst.

Lucy Kirkwood's play The Welkin premiered at the National Theatre, London, in January 2020, directed by James Macdonald and featuring Maxine Peake and Ria Zmitrowicz.

'A superb new history play - a feminist courtroom drama that's equal parts Twelve Angry Men, The Crucible and The Vagina Monologues, plus a dash of searing, up-to-the-minute political and social commentary.. a warm, humane and very funny piece, firmly anchored in women's everyday experience' Broadway World; 'Brilliant, brave, bold and intelligent theatre. It is, for all the seriousness of its subject, often very funny yet at the close, profoundly moving' WhatsOnStage; 'A mighty play: magnificent in its scope, depth and intricacy... a wise, funny, richly intelligent and generously ambitious play that asks, as all good history plays do, how far have we really come?' Financial Times; 'Dazzles with its examination of the big, immovable structures that inflict violence on women... there is so much richness in its visual imagination' Guardian 'Ungoverned, furious, larky, layered... sheer, gutsy audacity' Evening Standard

Lucy Kirkwood's other plays include Mosquitoes, The Children, Chimerica (winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play, the Evening Standard Best Play Award, the Critics' Circle Best New Play Award, and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize), NSFW and it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781848429215
ISBN 10	1848429215
Title	The Welkin
Author	Lucy Kirkwood
Series	Nhb Modern Plays
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Nick Hern Books
Year published	2020-01-16
Number of pages	96
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.