This is quite a broad heading, as there are female playwrights from within our period, but also a lot of performers, producers, and supporters of the theatre industry in various ways. At the moment this page is a work in progress and dominated by writers, but there will be more material to share further down the line.

Full ‘Dramatic Women’ playlist on the podcast

Jane, Lady Lumley (1537-1576)

The Tragedy of Iphigenia, translated/adapted from Euripides’ Iphigeneia at Aulis – Go to Iphigenia page.

Resources – initial exploring sessions, !Spoilers! a breakdown of the play.

Mary, Countess of Pembroke, born Mary Sidney (1561-1621)

The Tragedy of Antony, translated from Robert Garnier’s Tragedie of Antonie – a five act neo-classical drama, translated from French c.1592. It inspired, or Mary Sidney commissioned, a sequel by Samuel Daniel, The Tragedy of Cleopatra, which is detailed below.

Resources – initial exploring sessions, !Spoilers! and full cast audio adaptation below.

Mary Sidney also wrote a short dialogue, designed for performance as part of an entertainment before the Queen whilst visiting on her progress. The performance never happened, but the dialogue survives. Two Shepherds dispute the ways to praise Astraea (i.e. the Queen). One shepherd goes all out with his florid praising, the other rebukes the other for being inauthentic.

Elizabeth Cary (c.1585-1639)

The Tragedy of Mariam (c.1613) – Go to the Mariam page – a neo-classical tragedy that goes beyond the bounds of the form. A dynamic retelling of history, with compelling central characters caught in the whirlpool of court politics.

Resources – initial exploring sessions, !Spoilers! and full cast audio adaptation in the playlist.

Lady Mary Wroth (1587-1651)

Love’s Victory by Lady Mary Wroth – We have produced First Look exploring sessions on this play, but there was a full staging produced in 2022 at Penshurst Place by the team of Professor Alison Findlay and director Emma Rucastle – who we interviewed on the pod.

We also have a discussion with Tamsin Lewis of Passamezzo, who produced the music for the show. There is more on that production on this website, and there is a full video version available online now.

Lady Rachel Fane (1613-1680)

Lady Rachel Fane produced a number of entertainments and performance materials that survive in manuscript. We are in the process of working through those texts, more to come anon.

This page is still very much a work in progress – we intend to include a number of other figures who will fit under our quite open title.