Letters to Emma [Play performed at Lichfield Garrick October 2017]
- Submitting institution
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Loughborough University
- Unit of assessment
- 27 - English Language and Literature
- Output identifier
- 1830
- Type
- I - Performance
- Venue(s)
- Lichfield Garrick
- Open access status
- -
- Month of first performance
- October
- Year of first performance
- 2017
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- The play that constitutes this practice-as-research project into flawed female protagonists was the recipient of an Arts Council commission by Lichfield Garrick Theatre in 2017. It addressed findings by Tonic Theatre showing that only 37% of roles written are for women and that only 8% of playwrights are women, so an important way of challenging the male canon in the theatre is through writing by, about, and for women. The research uses recent discoveries by Sphinx Theatre Company identifying the need for women to have and play complex proactive characters. The flawed female protagonist is examined through the dramaturgy of the piece, which experiments with time-frame, and multi-media technology.
The methodologies for the output addressed the lack of visibility of women and experimented with a cross-genre approach that combined biographical drama with a ghost story, using verbatim theatre techniques. It involved interdisciplinary, historical, social, and dramaturgical research. Much of the play was researched in the archives at Samuel Johnson Museum. Most of Seward’s dialogue is taken verbatim from her letters and poems.
Research insights gained included a greater understanding of writing a flawed female protagonist, and increasing visibility of 18th-century poet Anna Seward, along with understanding and highlighting the issues of suicide and mental health in the student population, using a contemporary character in order to engage young audiences. In addition, it included an examination of ‘ghosting’, and ‘Twitter shaming’, and how these experiences affect women.
The time and manner of dissemination was through 6 performances at Lichfield Garrick in October 2017, as part of their Garrick 300 celebrations.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
