A stark, hard-hitting account of the political education of six women, convicted of petty crimes in nineteenth century London and sentenced to hard labour in Australia. Throughout the six-month voyage, the cramped, below-deck cell taught them certain rough truths about society. Foremost among these was the class and make bias of the system that condemned them, represented in the play by the above-deck crew.
The women’s development was powerfully and sympathetically portrayed – from their first tentative and desperate steps to come to terms with each other and the oppression of their jailers, to their final disembarkation as a tight-knit bunch of hardened fighters.
Michael Irving is one of the founders of Half Moon Theatre in Alie Street. He describes the importance of the production, Female Transport. Interviewed by Beccy Allen.
Yvonne Gilan was an actor and founder member of Half Moon Theatre who appeared in eight productions with us in the early-seventies.