''Jane Clegg'' is a 1913 play by the Irish playwright
St John Ervine
St John Greer Ervine (28 December 1883 – 24 January 1971) was an Irish biographer, novelist, critic, dramatist, and theatre manager. He was the most prominent Ulster writer of the early twentieth century and a major Irish dramatist whose work in ...
. A
feminist
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
work in the
social realism genre, ''Jane Clegg'' revolves around the eponymous housewife, who tends to her lower-middle-class family while her feckless husband runs up gambling debts and indulges in illicit affairs. First staged at the
Gaiety Theatre in Manchester in 1913, the play was very popular in the first half of the 20th century, and was staged multiple times in London and New York. It was one of the key roles in the theatrical career of the actress
Sybil Thorndike
Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson (24 October 18829 June 1976) was an English actress whose stage career lasted from 1904 to 1969.
Trained in her youth as a concert pianist, Thorndike turned to the stage when a medical problem with her ...
. After 75 years, ''Jane Clegg'' was revived at the
Finborough Theatre in 2019 and received critical acclaim.
Review
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See also
* Suffragette movement
A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for women's suffrage, the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in part ...
* Social realism
References
1913 plays
Irish plays
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