Fen
by Caryl Churchill
by Caryl Churchill
Fen explores the intertwined lives of women from different generations as they navigate fixed roles and limited choices, questioning their aspirations and expectations in a working-class community.
About The Play
About The Play
★★★★★ Five Stars, WhatsOnStage
★★★★ Four Stars The Times
★★★★ Four Stars The Guardian
★★★★ Four Stars, Spoonfed
Part of “In Their Place” – a three month season of work by women playwrights
Val wants more. Becky wants to be a hairdresser. Angela wants to escape. Shirley can’t be doing with all the fuss everyone is making.
In a world where roles are fixed and choices are few, Fen follows the interweaving lives of different generations of women, and questions our sense of entitlement as to what life should give us. Exploring the relationship between aspiration and expectation, Fen looks at our connection with the work, the people, and the landscapes that hold us together. A community of working women. Grafting, striving, finding their way.
First performed by Joint Stock Theatre Group in 1983 at the University of Essex Theatre and subsequently at the Almeida Theatre, on tour, and at the Public Theater, New York, this is the play’s first professional production in London since the original run.
Fen is presented as part of The Leverhulme Bursary, an exciting new award, partnering the National Theatre Studio with the Finborough Theatre, supporting a six month attachment at the internationally acclaimed National Theatre Studio, and a production at the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre.