The Marsh

Set in a courtyard off Lower Marsh Market in 1890, 3 women navigate lives lived in poverty, hard work and laughter and consider a future that they might or might not have a place. 

Mari, Lizzie and Dirty Gertie live in a courtyard beside Lower Marsh Market. It's 1890 and the play follows the trio across two days of their lives. They work on the market: Mari and Lizzie sell flowers and Dirty Gertie sells rags. Lizzie is a young mum who's husband is sick and can't work at the moment, her's is a struggle of juggling her domestic duties along with getting some money in, Dirty Gertie is terrified of water and Mari is plagued by visions of a future world she can't quite understand.

Written by Anna Robinson, whose poetry has long featured local history and voice. "She has ... an extraordinary ability to capture a multiplicity of working-class voices with a light touch. She writes as a socialist, a feminist, with an eye to comedy that can turn suddenly sad, as our lives can." (Culture Matters review by Nick Moss).

Anne Hayward - Lizzie
Barbara Mariposa - Dirty Gertie and Felicity-Veracity
Carol Morgan - Mari
Chris Nilsson - All the men! and Stage Management/Soundscape
David Lashbrook - filmmaker
Anna Robinson - Writer, Director
tbc - lights