-A thoughtful and considered kick up the arse to conspiracy theorists and to patriarchy- - Michael Boyd, Artistic Director RSC
Cleopatra, La Pucelle, Ophelia, Shaw's St. Joan and Ibsen's Hedda - a handful of seminal roles for women in the classical canon. Janet Suzman has played them all and directed some. Here she examines their complexity and explores why only Cleopatra has an independence that allows her to speak to modern women.
None of these, regrettably, matches up to a Hamlet, but as she is grateful for the parts he did write, Suzman feels a lightly-barbed attack on those...