Author bringing new play to the county
An arts organisation is hosting a production of a new play next month.
Whitchurch Rugby Club will be the venue for a performance of 'Miss Nobodies' from award winning writer, comedian and performer Ruth E. Cockburn.
The performance takes place on Wednesday, September 28, and has been arranged by Arts Alive.
The two-hander play celebrates female working class voices over the last 100 years, with Ruth asking: "What was it like to be a working-class woman in history and why is there so little literary evidence of it?"
Over the last couple of years she has been researching, talking to people, visiting libraries and scouring book shops for female voices.
She was made aware of a writer and activist called Ethel Carnie Holdsworth by Mid Pennine Arts.
She is cited as the first female working class published author in the UK.
Her first novel Miss Nobody was published in 1913 and she has a long list of articles, publications and books to her name, yet Ruth had never heard of her.
“Being a Lancashire lass myself” says Ruth “I was shocked that such an important figure hadn’t be celebrated more. I come from Blackpool; a place that I love yet has its own socio-economic issues. If I had heard about a woman that taught herself to read whilst working from the age of 11 in the mills, went onto fight for women’s rights and create amazing poetry and stories, I think I’d have listened in history lessons a bit more. As much as the corn laws and crop rotation is important to history, I reckon radical women would have been more my cup of tea.
“So, the idea for the show came about. Reading Ethel Carnie Holdsworth’s first novel Miss Nobody I was struck by the humour of it. It was like reading a Jenny Eclair book; rich with dark humour and beautiful language.
“As much as I love the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen, working class women like Ethel Carnie Holdsworth talked about the romance of choice, not the romance of marriage. It seemed so remarkable to me. Ethel talks of what it’s like to be a woman in difficult situations with such passion, I’d never heard the female experience talked about like that. I wanted to do something just like that. Make a show that people watch and recognise themselves.”
For more information and to buy tickets visit www.artsalive.co.uk
