The Welkin

Lucy Kirkwood’s feminist twist on Twelve Angry Men, with the courtroom made up of bickering, bantering women who must decide the outcome of a heinous crime in rural Suffolk in 1759. Sally Poppy is sentenced to hang for murder but claims to be pregnant, which would mean she escapes execution; a jury of 12 matrons are gathered to decide whether she’s telling the truth.

It’s a really interesting play, not least because so many of the characters are flawed – Sally herself is not an attractive person – and no matter how good the bitching and binding among the women, ultimately they’re supporting the patriarchal, misogynistic legal system that condemns a woman on a man’s word (which in this case is Sally’s cuckolded husband). And there are some great parts for women, especially the midwife who takes the lead as Sally’s principal defender.

This version is directed by Akansha Goenka. There are further performances on 22 and 23 June.