Dr Naomi Paxton is a researcher, broadcaster and performer.
She is the MC of Museums Showoff and Stand Up at the V&A, and an occasional presenter of BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking programme.
Her work on suffrage theatre includes two edited collections of suffrage plays with Methuen Drama (2013 &2018), Stage Rights! The Actresses’ Franchise League, activism and politics 1908-1958 (Manchester University Press, 2020), the exhibitions Dramatic Progress: Votes for Women and the Edwardian Stage (National Theatre, 2018-9) and What Difference Did the War Make? World War One and Votes for Women (UK Parliament, 2018), and the card game Suffra-Greats!
Naomi will be doing a Suffrage play reading at our Mayven Festival.
In 1908 the Actresses’ Franchise League and Women Writers’ Suffrage League were founded, bringing together theatre professionals who wanted to support the Votes for Women movement through their work.
They commissioned, produced and performed suffrage theatre and entertainments across the UK, seizing the opportunity to make new work that responded to the many issues and ideas at the heart of the suffrage campaign. Join us for a rare glimpse into some political, feminist theatre from over a century ago.
