Playwright: Elizabeth Robins. At: ShawChicago at Ruth Page Theater, 1016 N. Dearborn. Phone: 312-587-7390; $22. Runs through Nov. 9
There are many fascinating things surrounding Elizabeth Robins’ 1907 drama Votes for Women!, now receiving a professional staged reading courtesy of ShawChicago. Unfortunately, the play’s characters and plotting aren’t nearly as interesting as the historical context behind the play.
American by birth, Robins (1862-1952) would go on to fame in Great Britain as a leading actress, author and a dedicated activist in the Women’s Social and Political Union (a women’s rights organization founded by the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst).
Other historical footnotes about Robins include premiering the title role of Hedda Gabbler in Britain (along with helping to adapt Ibsen’s drama into English) and also penning progressive feminist plays and novels.
Just by looking at the title and premiere date of Votes for Women!, you can tell how politically incendiary it was as a suffragette movement protest play (British women didn’t officially get the vote until after World War I ended). The entirety of the play’s second act (a suffragette rally in Trafalgar Square) sounds just like a transcript of real-life protest speeches and spectator interjections, while the issue of abortion is also hinted at.
But the problem with Votes for Women! is that it comes off more as a museum artifact than a drama that can emotionally connect with audiences of today (something that can’t be said of plays like Ibsen’s A Doll’s House or Strindberg’s Miss Julie). The characters in Votes for Women! also come off more as ideological mouthpieces instead of real people.
Casual theatergoers might find Votes for Women! to be a far too creaky. But for fans of women’s history (or anyone who wants to be more active in political activism) ShawChicago’s production is highly recommended.
Since the play calls for a large cast and some scenic grandeur, it’s unlikely that Votes for Women! will receive a full-scale production anytime soon. So be glad that ShawChicago’s largely Equity cast under director/adaptor Robert Scogin is mostly effective at illustrating characters (especially through good dialects) while reading the script on music stands.
Matt Penn shows off a very actorly voice as the Tory politician Geoffrey Stoner, while Melinda Moonahan is great as a spitfire working woman speaker at a protest rally. Christian Gray’s misogynist male heckling is also amusing.
Votes for Women! is a protest play of its day, plain and simple. (Just imagine how audiences a century from now would react to the copious protest plays attacking the presidential administration of George W. Bush.)
So if the dramatic plotting is belabored and characterizations are lacking, Votes for Women! remains compelling as a historical snapshot of women’s emancipation since it was taken by an artist who was there herself in the political trenches.