Her Naked Skin Explained

Her Naked Skin is a 2008 play by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, and was the first original play by a female writer to be produced at the Olivier Theatre at London's Royal National Theatre (two earlier plays written by women had been adaptations: Pam Gems's adaptation of The Seagull in 1991, and Helen Edmundson's Coram Boy in 2005).[1] The premiere was directed by Howard Davies. In an interview, the National's director Nicholas Hytner stated "[Lenkiewicz's] new play ... will take its place in the Olivier rep alongside work by Shaw, Middleton and Tony Harrison."[2]

Plot

The play is set during British women's struggle for the vote in the early 20th century, beginning with a suffragette trying to pin a suffragette sash on the kings horse at the Derby and ending with the outbreak of World War I. It is centred on a love-affair between two fictional suffragettes, one upper-class called Lady Celia Cain (played in the premiere by Lesley Manville) and the other working-class called Eve Douglas (played in the premiere by Jemima Rooper). Much of the play is set in the cells of a prison where the characters are repeatedly sent.

Inception

In a National Theatre programme note, Lenkiewicz has written "I used to work at the National Film Theatre as an usherette and on my breaks I'd often go out to the river with a cup of tea and scour the bookstalls under Waterloo Bridge. One large paperback volume Shoulder to Shoulder cried out to me to be bought. It was by Midge Mackenzie and was a documentary account of the suffragettes. It was a battered copy and cost a tenner...and from devouring that book came my urge to write about the period and a desire to put those women into the foreground once more; their bravery and brilliance."[3]

Reception

Most of the critical reaction to the premiere was good, managing four stars in the Evening Standard, Guardian, Independent and Time Out and three in the Times,[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] though the critic from The Times criticised what he saw as the caricaturing of the male characters.[9] Some critics also felt the lesbian love affair was concentrated on at the expense of the historical background,[10] [11] [12] though some have argued against such as criticism.[13]

Original production - cast and creative team

Cast

* = Also credited as Ensemble

Creative team

References

  1. News: Turning the Tables . Kellaway . Kate . 29 June 2008 . The Guardian . 2015-02-04.
  2. News: Michael . Billington . Michael Billington (critic) . 'This will horrify my colleagues' . . 17 January 2008 . 2015-02-04 .
  3. Rebecca Lenkiewicz, programme note for Her Naked Skin
  4. News: Review - Her Naked Skin. Michael . Billington . Michael Billington (critic) . The Guardian . 1 August 2008 . London . 2015-02-04.
  5. News: Her Naked Skin. Paul. Taylor. The Independent. 1 August 2008 . London.
  6. News: Her Naked Skin - review . https://web.archive.org/web/20080802050024/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/theatre/show-23400506-details/Her+Naked+Skin/showReview.do . dead . 2 August 2008 . 25 July 2008 . Liz . Hoggard . .
  7. News: Dominic. Cavendish. Her Naked Skin: rapture and pain among the Suffragettes. The Telegraph. 4 August 2008 . London.
  8. News: Her Naked Skin - review. Sunday Times. 10 August 2008 . London . Louis . Wise . 4 May 2010.
  9. News: Her Naked Skin - review. The Times. 4 August 2008. Benedict. Nightingale . London.
  10. News: Sex and the suffragette. Viv. Groskop. 26 August 2008. . London.
  11. News: Letters - Naked truths and the suffragette movement. 28 August 2008. The Guardian . London . 4 May 2010.
  12. News: Letters - Theatrical spectacle and the suffragettes' real achievements. 1 September 2008. The Guardian . London . 4 May 2010.
  13. News: Letters - Theatre can still touch a nerve. 30 August 2008. The Guardian . London . 4 May 2010. .

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