Githa Sowerby: Three Plays: Rutherford and Son, A Man and Some Women, The Stepmother

Githa Sowerby’s Rutherford and Son took the London theatre by storm in 1912. Following its triumphant run, the play toured to New York, was produced throughout England, and was translated and staged in multiple European locations. Yet Sowerby’s initial theatrical success would not be repeated, despite her composition of additional plays performed over the following decade, and two more in the 1930s. With historical hindsight, we can see Sowerby’s experience as comparable to that of many other women writers who struggled to achieve lasting recognition, especially when their work was perceived as critiquing the political, cultural, and economic forces restricting women’s lives. With the acclaimed revival of Rutherford at the National Theatre in 1994, and the efforts by feminist scholars and theatre artists to rediscover the work of such forgotten women writers, Sowerby and her dramas have secured renewed interest. This Broadview edition will provide teachers, students, and artists with important historical contexts for Sowerby’s dramas, and will demonstrate the ongoing cogency of these dynamic, insightful, and engaging plays.