ABSTRACT

Maggie Gale's West End Women uncovers groundbreaking material about women playwrights and the staging of their performances between the years 1918 and 1962.
It documents a dynamic era of social and theatrical history, analysing the transformations that occurred in the theatre and the lives of British women in relation to specific plays of the period. Focusing on the work of playwrights such as Dodie Smith, Clemence Dane, Gordon Daviot and Bridget Boland, Maggie Gale examines the cultural and political context within which they enjoyed commercial success and great notoriety.

chapter |20 pages

Introduction

West and women, a force to be reckoned with

chapter |17 pages

Women in Society 1918–1962

An overview

chapter |35 pages

The London Stage 1918–1962

An historical context for women in theatre

chapter |31 pages

To Work or Not to Work

Representations of working women

chapter |35 pages

Motherhood and the Family

From matriarchs to refusing mothers

chapter |33 pages

Dramatising History

The search for national heroines

chapter |22 pages

Spinsters and Widows

Women without men

chapter |4 pages

Postscript