Maryland readings across the UK
Published on Sat 27 Nov 2021In October 2021 Lucy Kirkwood’s Maryland script was made available for free for 6 weeks to any UK theatre company or drama training organisation in order for them to stage their own script-in-hand reading. 132 places registered their interest.
Speaking previously on the play, playwright Lucy Kirkwood said;
“This play was for many years a private conversation with myself. The horrific murders of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman in 2020 and Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa this year have galvanised me into making it public. I hesitate to even call it a play when it is simply a howl, a way of expressing what I feel about a culture of violence against women, but I am sharing it because I wonder if it might express a little of what other people feel about it too. It was written very quickly, and I am grateful to the Royal Court for snatching up a gauntlet thrown down last Friday night with such energy, care and seriousness.”
From that offer there were 40 confirmed readings from 27 different theatre companies, 10 universities or higher education organisations and 3 schools. Out of the readings, 28 of these took place outside of London.
Maryland by Lucy Kirkwood originally ran in the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs Thursday 7 October 2021 – Saturday 23 October 2021. The script-in-hand performances were co-directed by Royal Court Theatre Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone and Royal Court Associate Directors Milli Bhatia and Lucy Morrison.