Female of the Species Tickets

The Vaudeville Theatre is the host of the UK run of Female of the Species by Joanna Murray-Smith. After garnering critical success in Australia, with a premiere in Melbourne in 2006, Female of the Species arrives in the UK with bookings being taken from the 23rd September until the 4th Octobrer 2008. The Daily Mail calls it ‘The sparkiest, freshest thing on the West End Stage’, The Evening Standard calls it ‘Wickedly clever…deadly funny’, whilst The Times refers to the star Eilieen Atkins as ‘a joy’.

Dame Eileen Atkins stars as Margot Mason, a feminist literary giant on deadline, but suffering from every writer’s worst nightmare – writers’ block. Her next book is taking a lifetime to complete with deadlines coming and going. Suddenly a young fan called Molly arrives unexpectedly at her home in the country, climbing in through the open French window. Things seem harmless enough, but Molly is carrying a gun, blaming Margot and her books for ruining her life. Things turn to farce when family members start to arrive, bringing with them debates about the content of her books and her feminist world view. In the end, the only friend she has is a taxi driver who remarks that she is ‘always annoying somebody’.

The play is based on an event that took place in 2000 when Germaine Greer was held captive in her Essex home following the international success of her groundbreaking book The Female Eunuch. As a result, the play deals with serious questions. Can authors or any other artists give out intellectual power and thought without consequences? Should they take responsibility for this? Despite this, the play is of course a comedy, and there are jokes a plenty, mainly dealing with language and culture and of course the personality of our protagonist at the centre of it all.

Dame Eileen Atkins is joined onstage by Paul Chahidi, Anna Maxwell Martin, Con O’Neill, Sophie Thompson and Sam Kelly. Roger Michell directs this latest play by Joanna Murray-Smith. Produced by David Richenthal, Mary Beth O’Conner, Nica Burns and Max Weitzenhoffer for Nimax Theatres. Designs are by Mark Thompson. Lighting is by James Whiteside and sound by Matt McKenzie.

Please note: Latecomers will not be admitted at any time during the show. This is due to the performance lasting only 95 minutes with no interval.