A rare chance to experience Sylvia Plath's only play at the Playhouse

Plath's only play, written for radio a year before her death, is to be performed in the Playhouse next month- one of the first professional productions since its original broadcast in 1962.

Written at the height of the poetess' powers, this beautiful play traces three different women's experiences of pregnancy and childbirth: the first character has a normal birth and a healthy baby, the second has a miscarriage and the third is a student who gives up her baby for adoption.

Set in "a maternity ward and round about", and Plath chooses not to focus on the clinical details of birth, but the women's states of mind.

Viv Groskop in the Guardian said 'Three Women' is "Both joyful and tragic, it is arguably one of her most beautiful pieces of writing" and Ian Shuttleworth in the Financial Times said "Three Women resonates soul-deep, regardless of one's experiences or one's sex."

The play was absent from the stage for more than 20 years after it was first aired in August 1962. It apparently took two years just to secure the performing rights before what was thought to be the first recent production in London last year. And now c21 Theatre Company are giving it a proper airing in Northern Ireland.

"The manifesto of Northern Ireland's c21 Theatre Company is give audiences the chance to see in full colour the work of notable writers that they might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience" Pauline Ross, founder of the Playhouse, said.

"The intimate setting of the Playhouse makes the perfect setting to do just that. We are really thrilled to see this piece staged again."

'Three Women' will come to the Playhouse, on March 4 at 8pm. Tickets are now on sale at the Playhouse Box office on (028) 71268027, priced only 11, 8 (con) or book online at www.derryplayhouse.co.uk.

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