Pilgrims' Progress? - 23 May

Exeter Northcott Theatre and the University of Exeter present: Pilgrim's Progress? - From Suffragettes to Margaret Thatcher and Beyond, a panel discussion inspired by the Great Suffrage Pilgrimage of 1913, when thousands of women marched across Britain to Hyde park. Inspired by Exeter-based ringleaders, one group of women walked from Land's End, in a shared journey focused on problems of child poverty,  people trafficking and sweated labour.
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The Pilgrims' Progress? discussion is on Thursday 23 May 2013 at 7pm, Exeter Northcott Theatre. Tickets £7, concessions £5. Box office 01392 493493 www.exeternorthcott.co.uk

Feminist broadcaster, writer and critic Bidisha will be in the Chair, and other speakers will include historian and cultural commentator Rachel Holmes (co-editor of the new collection, 50 Shades of Feminism); Michelle Ryan, co-inventor of the notion of the "glass cliff" for women; and Exeter-based community historian Julia Neville, whose research on woman suffrage informs the associated play, Oxygen.

The panel discussion is preamble to the specially-commissioned play Oxygen, by Natalia McGrath, when Dreadnought South West (see previously) will be following in the footsteps of the Great Suffrage Pilgrimage. "The death of Margaret Thatcher gives a special urgency to the question of how much progress women have made. The evening will begin with a sneak preview from the play, and we anticipate some lively audience participation".

See Dreadnought South West Association for further background. Oxygen is its first major project, commemorating the centenary of The Great 1913 Suffrage Pilgrimage, as part of a wider brief of working with arts and heritage to champion women’s voices and stories.

- RG