Event: No Bad Women – Tickets now on sale!
A play based on a rape trial which made legal history.
“Challenging . . . uncompromising, everything theatre should be.” Tribune 2015
Venue: Clean Break, 2 Patshull Rd, Kentish Town, London NW5 2LB
1 – 14 November 2019 (except Sundays) 7.30pm, running time 75 minutes
Q&A after shows on 1st, 8th & 12th November from 9-9.30pm, featuring a complainant and other women involved in the original trial.
12th November BSL sign language interpreted show – one night only.
Wheelchair access.
No Bad Women tells the story of two women sex workers, each raped on a different occasion by the same man while visiting his house in suburbia. One woman is a tattooed biker, a mum and a former teacher. The other works in porn to support her disabled husband. They report their attacks, but the Crown Prosecution Service closes the case, claiming there is “insufficient evidence” – sex workers won’t be believed by a jury.
Outraged but scared, the women come to the English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) and Women Against Rape (WAR). The groups assemble a legal team to take on the rapist and prevent him attacking other women. This was the first private prosecution for rape in England and Wales.
The play is a dramatisation of this bold and imaginative fight for justice, drawn from the trial transcript. But can women who do sex work win?
At a time when demands for justice are growing, but rape prosecutions are at an all-time low, No Bad Women is timely and relevant.
“The trial transcript’s language was raw and unsettling. It created a complex picture of two very different women and the courage that it takes for any rape victim to come forward.” Director Lesley Delmenico.
“Prostitution is always driven by economic necessity,” said Niki Adams of the English Collective of Prostitutes, who helped bring the case to court. “More than 70% of sex workers are mothers, mostly single mothers. It may not be a great job but it may be the best on offer — especially in today’s austerity Britain when so many women and children are relying on food banks to survive.”
Lisa Longstaff of Women Against Rape said, “These women were pioneers, risking everything to protect themselves and society from a violent man. The deep prejudices they exposed from the criminal justice authorities are with us today. This play is an opportunity to hear their powerful voices and what we are still up against.”
Please donate to our crowdfunding appeal to help with the expenses of bringing the play to the stage:
Women Against Rape
war@womenagainstrape.net
@againstrape
againstrape.net
English Collective of Prostitutes
ecp@prostitutescollective.net
@prostitutescoll
prostitutescollective.net
Tel 020 7482 2496