By Emma Silverthorn (@HouseOf_Gazelle)
In The Disappearance of Dorothy Lawrence theatre group Vital Xposure is set to tell another hidden story from an otherwise repressed voice.
In the centenary year of the Suffragette movement it’s not surprising to find more art dealing with the stories of those women key within it; with the film Suffragette, out next month and starring powerhouse Meryl Streep as Emmeline Pankhurst, being the most high profile of all. But Dorothy Lawrence is not a well-known figure in the movement as Pankhurst, or indeed Christabel, or Davison are, though her tale is equally as compelling and inspirational. Dorothy worked as an undercover journalist in drag during World War one, travelled to the Somme by bicycle, helped out in the front line of the trenches and was later taken as a prisoner of war.
Vital Xposure promises in this production to investigate ‘the ways society deals with women who step out of line, back in 1915 or today, a hundred years on’. The Disappearance of Dorothy Lawrence is coming to London’s Pleasance theatre in Islington this week. For full listings click here.