Why The Letters
Early in 2024, I was helping my friend Jill Posener to clear out boxes of her archival material from the London flat she used to live in before moving to California back in 1988. Folders of papers, Gay Sweatshop memorabilia, material from alternative performance venues across London, including Oval House, and the Drill Hall, letters, and lots of photographic records. Stacks of memories. We were trying to categorise everything roughly, getting it ready to go to Jill’s archive at the Bishopsgate Institute Archive in London.
Quite by chance I noticed a couple of letters. One was from Sue Parrish who was part of The Women’s Theatre Group at its beginning in1974. (Relaunched as Sphinx Theatre in 1990, since then Sue has been its Artistic Director.) In 1979 she was a founding member of the Standing Conference of Women Theatre Directors. Her 1983 letter sparked off a full reply from Jill.
Back then we early women’s liberationists were all, from theatre, to grass roots activism, to, well, everything else under the sun, pounding out our emerging differences as feminists: in approach, politics, sexuality, attitudes, campaigns, beliefs – even dress styles. Yes, we were all sisters but that didn’t mean we all agreed. Sue and Jill represented two young branches of feminist theatre.
*Both women gave HOWL permission to use their letters.
(Sue O’Sullivan, HOWL, December 2024)
From the show ‘THE IMPERSONATORS’, © Jill Posener
Women’s Theatre: creating something significant
Sue Parish’s Letter
Jill Posener responds to Sue
BLOOD GROUP, still from the show DIRT, © Jill Posener
Still from CUNNING STUNTS at the Oval Theatre, © Jill Posener
Calling all old and older feminists! Help HOWL build a collection of memories of the early WLM with your own stories or ‘takes’ on events back then. Please respond to the HOWL stories you read with your own memories. We welcome short vignettes or longer recollections of your experiences from being in local small groups to large national campaigns and everything in-between. This is our chance to make sure our histories are recorded and collected. See instructions for ‘how to contribute to HOWL’ on our Home Page.