As part of the Finborough Theatre’s #FinboroughForFree initiative, the theatre will be releasing a new play every month for as long as they can during closure, for audiences to watch online for free. The online release for June will be from the critically acclaimed 2019 run and first London production for over 75 years of St John Ervine’s Jane Clegg. This will be the first Finborough Theatre rediscovery to be made available for free viewing online through the Society of London Theatre’s Official London Theatre YouTube channel.
Previous online releases from the Finborough Theatre include the 2016 Olivier Award-nominated production of It Is Easy To Be Dead (available to watch here), as well as the 2017 world premiere of Gerry Moynihan’s Continuity (available to watch here). Their first Virtual Finborough Forum discussion with script consultant Philip Shelley recorded in June is also available to watch online for free here.
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London, 1913.
Travelling salesman Henry Clegg has taken his wife, Jane, for granted for most of their marriage, as she endures his dishonesty, infidelity and neglect, as well as his demanding mother.
But when Henry is accused of embezzling money from his firm and his latest affair is revealed, Jane realises she must finally escape her life of domestic abuse for herself and her children...only to find that for women without money and connections breaking free isn’t so easy.
Written in 1913 at the height of the campaign for votes for women, Jane Clegg premiered at Manchester’s famous Gaiety Theatre, before transferring to the Royal Court Theatre – where it was compared to Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Dame Sybil Thorndike created the title role and performed it all over the world, including in a BBC Radio broadcast in 1967.
The video can be viewed here, is free to view, and will be available until 5 August 2020.