Five Women (2012)

On a cold spring morning in 1963 five women came out of Holloway Prison.

Loveable, diminutive Diane Richards, from Ireland, 24, Forgery

Joe Bishop, donkey jacketed lesbian drug addict from London, 30, Burglary

Soft spoken, genteel Miss McDonald, Edinburgh, 40, Fraud

dour, bitter, Janie Preston, Lancashire, 60, Larceny

and spirited optimistic 17 year old Millie, Black, for running away from a children's home

Each of these women agreed to give their life story to an unassuming writer, Tony Parker who would become famous not only for his books on criminals but also lighthouse keepers, striking miners, and Studs Terker. He was also a prolific writer for TV (Z-cars, Softly Softly, Juliet Bravo etc). In the 60s The BBC commissioned Five Women as Play For Today, but suddenly dropped it, apparently worried that the public would be unable to distinguish fact from fiction. A row between artists and management ensued in the Radio Times until a cut version was eventually screened in 1969. Perhaps the controversy was less to do with the question 'is it art' (Parker's work undoubtedly is), than the difficulty of hearing about real women living less than ideal lives. Our version of this play will be devised from the original text into five monologues