Reading Ten - 20th October 2020 Which by Evelyn Glover (1914) How One Woman Did It by J. L. Austin (1912) Readers: Rob Bond, Hannah Davies, Steve Fortune, Maroussia Frank, Michelle Kelly, Charlotte Moore, Jamie Newall, Maggie Saunders, Annie Walker
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Reading Nine - 15th October 2020 Supposing by Sewell Collins (1913) The First Actress by Christopher St John (1911) Readers: Sarah Annakin, Nick Dutton, Stephanie Fayerman, Maroussia Frank, John Fleming, Catherine Harvey Green, Michelle Kelly, Sajeela Kershi, Sarah McCourt, Charlotte Moore, Jamie Newall, Bobbie O'Callaghan, Philippa Ritchie, Maggie Saunders, Velma Von Bon Bon, Annie Walker, Faye Wilson Reading Seven - 15th September 2020 The Parrot Cage by Mary Shaw (1914) An Allegory by Vera Wentworth (1911) Readers: Janice Connolly, Stephanie Fayerman, John Fleming, Catherine Harvey Green, Sajeela Kershi, Charlotte Moore, Jamie Newall, Maggie Saunders, Bob Sinfield, Lucy Stevens, Genevieve Swallow, Annie Walker Reading Six - 8th September 2020 Her Will by Christopher St John (1914) At the Gates by Alice Chapin (1909) Readers: Caroline Cooke, Stephanie Fayerman, Emma Fenney, Sarah Ford, Lucy Frederick, Kathryn Martin, Charlotte Moore, Jamie Newall, Bob Sinfield, Alison Skilbeck, Lucy Stevens, Genevieve Swallow Reading Five - 25th August 2020 Honour Thy Father by H. M. Harwood (1912) Criminals by George Middleton (1915) Readers: Rob Bond, John Fleming, Mark Huckett, Charlotte Moore, Jamie Newall, Alice Robinson, Maggie Saunders, Lucy Stevens, Genevieve Swallow Reading Four - 18th August 2020 The Reforming of Augustus by Irene Rutherford McLeod (1910) In the Workhouse by Margaret Wynne Nevinson (1911) Readers: Jemma Churchill, Caroline Cooke, Maroussia Frank, Lucy Frederick, Sajeela Kershi, Kathryn Martin, Maggie Saunders, Genevieve Swallow, Annie Walker, Sarah-Louise Young Reading Three - 11th August 2020 Jack and Jill and a Friend by Cicely Hamilton (1911) Votes for Children by Ernest Hutchinson (1913) Readers: Rob Bond, Kudzanayi Chiwawa, John Fleming, Maroussia Frank, Lucy Frederick, Mark Huckett, Charlotte Moore, Jamie Newall, Bob Sinfield, Lucy Stevens, Genevieve Swallow, Velma Von Bon Bon, Annie Walker Reading Two - 4th August 2020 A Woman's Influence by Gertrude Jennings (1909) Might is Right by Netta Syrett (1909) Readers: Rob Bond, Jemma Churchill, Stephanie Fayerman, John Fleming, Charlotte Moore, Maggie Saunders, Lucy Stevens, Genevieve Swallow, Annie Walker, Ben Wendel, Velma Von Bon Bon, Sarah-Louise Young Part of the joy of research is finding surprises in archives, newspapers, autobiographies and ephemera.
Often these stories don't fit the narrative of whatever writing task is at hand at that moment and so get forgotten, but since 2017 I've been thrilled to give many of them a wider audience on BBC Radio 3's Time Traveller series - broadcast every morning just after 10am as part of the live Essential Classics programme on Radio 3 and then subsequently collated into themes for the Time Traveller podcast. Through this series I've been able to tell over twenty stories from the past about magic, art, sport, theatre, music, dance, and of course the suffrage campaign. In the first few months of 2012 I worked as a dresser on South Downs/The Browning Version at the Comedy Theatre in London. I was in the second year of my PhD, and also putting together the manuscript of The Methuen Drama Book of Suffrage Plays. Working in wardrobe on West End shows is intense - you're in eight shows a week and often also more for laundry calls, understudy runs, and maintenance sessions. It's also great fun - I've worked in wardrobe on nearly 30 West End shows since 1998 and been fortunate to work with and for some incredibly lovely and talented people on stage and off.
It was on that show that the idea of a suffrage themed 'top trumps' style game first came to me. I thought it would be a great way to introduce some of the amazing campaigners I was finding in my research - and talking about constantly! - to new audiences in an accessible and fun way. My friend Greg who was then the deputy head of the wardrobe dept and is now a tailor was super encouraging of the idea and I mocked up a set to see if it would work. It did. Since that day I've been going on and on about this idea, keen to make it happen but not knowing how to do so. But finally - in 2018 it has! It was totally worth the wait. Suffra-Greats! is a reality. |
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