- Venue
- The Place Bedford
- Date
- Saturday, April 6, 2019
06:30 PM - Address
- Bradgate Road, Bedford MK40 3DE
- Location
- East England
- Organiser
- Bedford Creative Arts
For the finale of the socially charged project by Post Workers Theatre – Tomorrow’s Great Pageant – a performative reading of the play will take place this April at The Place Bedford.
The original play, A Pageant of Great Women, written by the dramatist and actor Ciceley Hamilton in 1909, was a popular allegorical work of political agitation, which featured the embodiment of ‘Justice’, ‘Woman’ and ‘Prejudice’. The play served, in part, to recover knowledge of great women of the past, with a cast of 45 historic women, and to promote a feminist perspective on emancipation. Over one hundred years later the struggle for gender equality continues and to revisit the structure and values of A Pageant of Great Women, will offer a new platform for collective understanding, awareness and celebration.
Through a series of performative workshops, the iconic Suffrage play, has been reimagined for a 21st Century non-binary context. Participants have been working with forum theatre techniques, to collectively develop a new cast and agenda for the roles of ‘Justice’, ‘Woman’ and ‘Prejudice’. Using improvisation tableaus, warm-up games and call and response chanting, the group has been working through ideas that were initially discussed at the launch (an event, which included writers, artists, academics and performers) to write and reimagine the original characters.
The new material for the play will be performed by writers and performers Ray Filar and Claudia Jefferies and a cast of participants who have all been involved in the co-writing of the script.
The project has been produced by Bedford Creative Arts in collaboration with Post Workers Theatre and The Place Bedford.
This is a free event, though prior booking is advised. To book your seat please visit or call (01234) 354321 .
