Voices from Hackney’s history
Presented by the Hackney Society and the Tower Theatre
Saturday 17th September at 7.30pm
At the Tower Theatre, Stoke Newington
All tickets £5
Based on ‘Women from Hackney’s History’
The women of Abney fought for the right to vote and the right to say no, they transformed the ways we heal and learn, they shattered convention and they thrilled an adoring public. These are their voices and their stories.
Some have prominent graves and grand memorials, some have no headstone or share a common grave. Many turbulent lives came to rest in Abney Park and this film lets us hear from 12 women who left their mark on Victorian England and reshaped our world.
Drawing from the 113 profiles in Women from Hackney’s History, now in its second edition, the film includes the first female balloonist, the nursing pioneer for whom the Welsh health service is named and a poet who withstood barbaric quackery. It tells the rags to riches stories of music hall stars – and the men who reduced them back to rags. We hear from the former prostitute who scandalised polite society, exposed its hypocrisy, changed the consent laws and was rewarded with a prison sentence.
The film gives voice to two women who are buried, overshadowed by their husbands, under Abney’s largest and best known memorials. The huge and international impact of the Booth family relies on the refusal of its women to be constrained by traditional roles. The splendour of the Bostock lion and the glamour of the circus obscures a history of abuse and its survival.
The film is an hour long and will be followed by a brief Question and Answer session allowing the audience to quiz some of the large team involved in bringing these stories to the screen.
Cast
Catherine Booth : Tyan Jones
Susannah Bostock : Emilia Teglia
Betsy Cadwaladr : Joanna Nevin
Harriet Delph : Angelika Michitsch
Frances Garlick : Angelika Michitsch
Emily Gosse : Joanna Nevin
Margaret Graham : Selina Cadell
Ethel Haslam : Lucianne Regan
Mary Hays : Ruth Sullivan
Rebecca Jarrett : Lucianne Regan
Katty King : Ruth Sullivan
Nelly Power : Letty Thomas
Joanna Vassa : Tyan Jones
Production Team
Director : Nick Perry
Writers : Rosie Barker, Sue Doe, Wendy Forrest, Lucy Madison
Costume : Kathleen Morrison
Sound : Colin Guthrie
Music : Luc Vanlaere
Location Services : Haydn for Abney Park Trust
Women from Hackney’s History is available from the Hackney Society and local bookshops. Details here.