To commemorate the ‘Embrace the Base’ demonstration against nuclear weapons at Greenham Common in December 1982, a revival of A Common Woman by Mary Rensten.  

The play addresses the issue of what would make an ordinary woman join the protesters. In a rehearsed reading with the women’s songs from Greenham Lindsey Coulson as Jean, an ordinary woman, explores this journey. Her student daughter Ann, played by Grace Coulson-Harris encourages her to take part behind her husband, Bill’s, back. 

Jean is troubled by the idea of deceiving Bill. ‘If we don’t agree about something, we don’t do it,’ she says. But Bill, James Barriscale, has decided views about ‘the people who are mixed up in that sort of thing ...Anarchists, Commies!’ and is shocked by the thought of her joining them. Richard, their teenage son, played by Frankie Golding, is certain that, as this is a women-only protest, they must all be lesbians.

As Jean reads the book “Greenham Women Everywhere”, given to her by Ann, she is deeply moved and must decide: Should she go? Or not?

A Common Woman explores the link that joins ‘painful, private battles to public acts. Heart-wrenching stuff,’ City Limits wrote in their review of the original Kings Head production in October 1984.

The play will be followed by a Q & A about the Greenham Common Peace Camp.