Letters to Emma

This full-length stage play is a cross-genre narrative; it combines biographical drama with a ghost story using verbatim theatre techniques. It uses historical, social, and dramaturgical research. It makes innovative use of time-frame, and multi-media technology. This play was specially commissioned by Lichfield Garrick and fully funded by Arts Council England. It offers a detailed examination of the life of 18th-century poet Anna Seward. The vast majority of Seward’s dialogue is taken from her letters and poems. It uses a contemporary character in order to engage young audiences and highlight the issue of suicide and mental health problems in the student population. Through the examination of recent phenomena ‘ghosting’, and ‘Twitter shaming’, the play explores how these experiences affect women in particular. This play was performed at Lichfield Garrick for a week in October 2017. It was reviewed by several online review sites gaining 5 star reviews. It formed part of Lichfield Garrick’s Garrick 300 Season, which celebrated the 300th anniversary of the birth of David Garrick.