Harriet Martineau Dreams of Dancing - Meet The Writer

Olivier Award winning writer Shelagh Stephenson talks about the making o her latest play, Harriet Martineau Dreams of Dancing with Live Theatre's Creative Producer Graeme Thompson.

ynemouth, 1844. Harriet Martineau, leading radical thinker, feminist and anti-slavery campaigner of her day, seeks refuge from the claustrophobic demands of London society, with her needlepoint and a telescope in an attic room on Front Street. But instead of escape, she finds an unequal world in need of her attention. This is a world of racial intolerance and gender imbalance, of eccentric scientific practices such as mesmerism and phrenology. A world where a negligent husband may die from a pig falling on his head in the street.

Following on from the critically acclaimed 2010 production of A Northern Odyssey ( The Guardian), Harriet Martineau Dreams of Dancing is the second in Olivier Award-winning writer, Shelagh Stephenson’s trilogy of witty and engaging plays at Live Theatre exploring the contemporary relevance of Tyneside’s political and cultural heritage.

The World Premiere of Harriet Martineau Dreams of Dancing is at Live Theatre from Thursday 10 November to Saturday 3 December.

The post show talk was recorded live at Live Theatre on Saturday 12 November 2016.