The Welkin at The Questors is Not Twelve Angry Women
Lucy Kirkwood says her play isn't a remake of a male classic
A young woman stands accused of a heinous crime
October 23, 2024
The playwright behind a new play to be staged at The Questors has dismissed any parallels with the film ‘Twelve Angry Men’ despite the plot centring round an all-woman jury.
The Welkin unfolds in 1759, where a young woman stands accused of a heinous crime and faces the death penalty.
In a desperate bid to save her life, she claims to be pregnant. This claim compels an unusual assembly of twelve women, drawn from their everyday lives, to determine her truthfulness—and ultimately her destiny.
In an era when men wielded nearly all legal and societal power, this gathering of women to judge one of their own is both a rare and unsettling challenge to the status quo.
Writer, Lucy Kirkwood, said "I wanted to fight for The Welkin to be its own thing, a show focussing on a woman voice, it's not a remake of a male classic.”
This production will be directed by Pam Redrup whose past credits include Low Level Panic where she brought an all-female production both on stage and backstage to Questors.
The Welkin has garnered critical acclaim, with the New York Times calling it “a sombre yet witty play set in 18th-century England ... a clever perversion of a courtroom drama,” and the Times Literary Supplement praising it as “a delicious blend of eighteenth-century satire, twentieth-century morality play, and fizzy postmodern inventiveness.”
It is being performed from 1-9 November and tickets are available on The Questors Theatre website.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |
