Gertrude Jennings wrote over fifty hugely popular plays in her lifetime, but she seems to have somehow been forgotten. This October, Optik Productions will return two such masterpieces to the stage after a century of neglect
Last year's double-bill; Pros and Cons, & Between the Soup and the Savoury
With her furiously funny farces and early feminist ideas, Gertrude Jennings was among the more prolific British playwrights of the early 20th century – or indeed, ever. She wrote more than fifty plays, performed across London theatres, with a unique voice that addressed serious political ideas even as they cast the audience into hysterics.
With all that in mind, it's rather baffling that she's so little-known, these days. The work of the woman who toured her theatre company to the army camps of World War One, and who used her writing to advance the female suffrage movement in the public eye, has been all but forgotten.
Optik Productions is the theatre company looking to change that, with a programme featuring two of Jennings' plays. Five Birds in a Cage and The New Poor will be shown from October 13-17 in the striking space of SS Philips and James Church, in Twickenham. Left to gather dust for a century, these plays remain fabulously funny and startlingly relevant – from a housing crisis to conflict with the super-rich.
You can find out more on the Gertrude Jennings website
