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Female Transport
£7.20
Drama
Steve Gooch.
Charcters: 4 male, 6 female
Interior Set
This stark, hard hitting drama is an account of the political education of six women convicted of petty crimes in 19th century London and sentence to be transported to a life of hard labor in Britain’s overseas penal colony (present day Australia). During the 6 month voyage they are kept in a cramped cell below deck where they learn certain truths about society. Foremost among these is they have been condemne
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Additional information
| Publisher | Inc (2 Feb. 2011), Samuel French |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 94 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0573691851 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0573691850 |
| Dimensions | 12.7 x 0.53 x 20.32 cm |
by Fran Lucas
good
by R. Newman
I have to admit I was disappointed with this play as I expected a lot more insight into the characters’ lives and more of a power struggle between the prisoners and the crew. After studying Timberlake Wertenbaker’s ‘Our Country’s Good’ for Theatre Studies A Level I already had a good idea of the scope for storytelling and characterisation with this period of history. This play is set entirely during the voyage over to Australia and the prisoners undergo some serious punishment, illness and one even hangs herself. I think this play could be improved on with a good cast and director but the play, in my opinion, lacks the dramatic climaxes required to keep the audience interested.
The author provides a good insight into how the prisoners were treated, especially some unusual punshment methods, and the language is fairly well researched.
A positive point for this play is the way the cast is focused around female characters, as generally men seem to get a better selection of parts!
Looking at this play from both an english critic point of view and as an actress I can only award the play 4 stars as I feel like the playwright has held back and not taken advantage of what could have been done with this premise. However, the play is better than many I’ve read and I think I would enjoy the challenges of production when more could be made of the unwritten action and emotion.
by Rhian
As described