GLOSSARY

 

Lenkiewicz was born in 1968 in Plymouth, Devon. She is the daughter of Peter Quint, a playwright who has never been produced. Her last name is from her mother’s first marriage to Robert Lenkiewicz, a painter. She earned a BA in Film and English from the University of Kent and a BA Acting Course at Central School of Speech and Drama. She acted for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre before writing.

​

Act I Scene 2

 

H.H.- reference to Asquith. They are his initials.

​

Poplar- area of London 5 miles from Charring Cross

​

Comparing suffragettes to the Irish- Irish Home Rule- an attempt to create a government in Ireland. See Bills.

 

Act I Scene 3

 

Prison Divisions- In 1898, the Prison Act diluted separates systems, abolished hard labor, and established the idea that prison labor should be productive. In 1908, the borstal system was introduced with the Prevention of Crime Act. The borstal system was designed as a separate prison for young people and combined hard physical work, technical and educational instruments, and a strong moral atmosphere. The young person worked through a series of grades, based on privileges, until release. Force feeding would not have happened if they were political prisoners.

​

Churchill denied suffragettes first division status in prison (political) in 1910. Though the division the suffragettes were in had equal comforts as political prisoners, they were angry not to have the status.

Holloway is a female only prison as of 1903.

 

Act I Scene 6

 

Pleurisy- the inflammation of tissue in the lungs and chest caused by a viral infection or other diseases such as pneumonia and tuberculosis.

 

Act I Scene 8

1870 death from force-feeding- no proof that this happened.

 

"The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" was composed in 1892 by Fred Gilbert. Gilbert said that it was inspired by gambler Charles Wells.

​

I’ve just got here, through Paris, from the sunny southern shore;

I to Monte Carlo went, just to raise my winter’s rent.

Dame Fortune smiled upon me as she’d never done before,

And I’ve now such lots of money, I’m a gent.

Yes, I’ve now such lots of money, I’m a gent.

As I walk along the Bois de Boulogne

With an independent air

You can hear the girls declare


”He must be a Millionaire.”

You can hear them sigh and wish to die,

You can see them wink the other eye

At the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.

I stay indoors till after lunch, and then my daily walk

To the great Triumphal Arch is one grand triumphal march,

Observed by each observer with the keenness of a hawk,

I’m a mass of money, linen, silk and starch –

I’m a mass of money, linen, silk and starch.

 

I patronized the tables at the Monte Carlo hell

Till they hadn’t got a sou for a Christian or a Jew;

So I quickly went to Paris for the charms of mad’moiselle,

Who’s the lodestone of my heart – what can I do,

When with twenty tongues she swears that she’ll be true?

 

Act I Scene 10

​

"The March of the Women" was composed in 1910. Emmeline Pankhurst made it the official song of the WSPU. 1912 in

Holloway Prison- famously sung by many woman activists arrested for window smashing, with composer Ethel Smyth conducting with a toothbrush.

​

Shout, shout, up with your song!

Cry with the wind, for the dawn is breaking;

March, march, swing you along,

Wide blows our banner, and hope is waking.

Song with its story, dreams with their glory

Lo! they call, and glad is their word!

Loud and louder it swells,

Thunder of freedom, the voice of the Lord!

 

Long, long—we in the past

Cowered in dread from the light of heaven,

Strong, strong—stand we at last,

Fearless in faith and with sight new given.

Strength with its beauty, Life with its duty,

(Hear the voice, oh hear and obey!)

 

These, these—beckon us on!

Open your eyes to the blaze of day.

Comrades—ye who have dared

First in the battle to strive and sorrow!

Scorned, spurned—nought have ye cared,

Raising your eyes to a wider morrow,

Ways that are weary, days that are dreary,

Toil and pain by faith ye have borne;

Hail, hail—victors ye stand,

Wearing the wreath that the brave have worn!

Life, strife—those two are one,

Naught can ye win but by faith and daring.

 

On, on—that ye have done

But for the work of today preparing.

Firm in reliance, laugh a defiance,

(Laugh in hope, for sure is the end)

March, march—many as one,

Shoulder to shoulder and friend to friend.

 

Act I Scene 12

 

Compos Mentis- having full control of one’s mind; sane.

 

Act 2 Scene 1

 

Epping Forest- called “The People’s Forest” as of 1886 when Queen Victoria visited it. It is located in north east London.  

 

Act 2 Scene 3

 

“Only be thou strong and very courageous”- Biblical reference to Joshua 1:7. Joshua led the Israelites to the Promised land after Moses died.

 

Act 2 Scene 4

 

Remember me at my best pip- Great Expectations reference

 

Act 2 Scene 6

​

Powder put on inmates- Delousing powder is used to kill lice.