Drawn together from over 40 years of writing from Clean Break theatre company, this collection features the unheard voices in the criminal justice system. Offering a diverse set of monologues representing a range of characters in age, ethnicity and lived experience, Monologues for Women by Women is just that- an opportunity for female performers to celebrate the opportunities inherent in allowing women to represent themselves.
The themes of the body of work itself are by necessity diverse, but are united by the stories of women in the justice system which inevitably bringing themes of poverty, family, love, motherhood, friendship, money, reproductive labour and freedom to the fore. Readers will encounter the trafficked woman who dreams of taking her daughter to Brighton Beach; the policewoman who cannot move past her own teenage transgressions; the rigid Nigerian mother who refuses to understand her daughter's history of addiction or the abuse it stems from. By turns moving, funny and darkly self-aware, these monologues will humanise and dramatise the real women caught up in the justice system, who are all too often misunderstood and silenced.
The monologues include both published and unpublished works and feature writers such as- Chloe Moss, Theresa Ikoko, Alice Birch, Winsome Pinnock, Tanika Gupta, Lucy Kirkwood and many more. Whether you are an auditioning actor, a student with an interest in the history of alternative and women's theatre or a fan of the best new writing the UK has to offer, this book is a gateway to Clean Break's remarkable back catalogue and a celebration of the real voices of women affected by the criminal justice system, still so often unheard.
