Performing suffrage: Theatre, actresses and activism

The Actresses’ Franchise League was formed in 1908 by a group of theatre professionals keen to support Votes for Women. The league produced a huge variety of entertainments, contributing to the performative propaganda of the suffrage movement and embracing new forms, new spaces, new ideas, and new audiences. In this talk, Dr Naomi Paxton will explore the work and legacy of the suffragist actresses and actors of the Actresses’ Franchise League, and the part that the league played in the campaign for equal rights.