Pascal Theatre Company Announces Revival Tour Of Julia Pascal's A MANCHESTER GIRLHOOD

Pascal Theatre Company today announces the revival of Julia Pascal's play A Manchester Girlhood, based on the lives of three Manchester Jewish women and their Romanian immigrant parents. The show opens at Blackpool Old Electric Theatre on 20 April, Manchester Jewish Museum on 23 April, followed by London dates at Burgh House on 17 May and a run at JW3 from 21 - 23 May 2023.

Pascal directs a cast including Lesley Lightfoot, Amanda Maud, Eoin O'Dubhghaill and Giselle Wolf. Based on Pascal's own family roots, the show premièred in Manchester in 2019 and explores themes of family loyalty, identity, patriotism and what it means to be a woman.

Pascal Theatre Company presents

A MANCHESTER GIRLHOOD

Written and directed by JULIA PASCAL

Blackpool Old Electric Theatre: Thursday 20 April 2023 at 7pm

Manchester's Jewish Museum, Old Synagogue: Sunday 23 April 2023 at 7pm

Burgh House, London: Wednesday 17 May 2023 at 7pm

JW3, London: Sunday 21 - Tuesday 23 May 2023 at 7:30p

In Bucharest 1910, Esther Goldenberg has been forced to marry Emanuel Jacobs. He is her parents' choice. The two young Romanian Jews go to Manchester and have three daughters, Isabel, Edith and Pearl. Isabel's only ambition is to be a doctor's wife. Edith becomes a soldier. Pearl marries a GI. These three sisters are at the heart of the drama.

This dream-like text explores the idea that each person relives intense moments from a whole life in the moment before death.

Characters are seen both as children, young, mature and elderly women. This is not a linear drama. It is a mosaic that collages intense experiences within the outer drama of world events including World War Two and racism in the US.

The play explores the importance of women's education, marriage and unexplored, erotic desire. These unknown women's experiences offer the audience a sense of the large political framework through the lives of the unheard. The total effect is to expose the boundless energy of women who have not been allowed the education to fulfil their brilliant potential.

Lesley Lightfoot stars. Her theatre credits include Three Sisters (MK Gallery), The Secret Listeners (Trent Park), Common (National Theatre), Thanks But No Thanks, The Fox, One Touch of Venus (King's Head Theatre), Faustaff or the Mockery of the Soul (Cockpit Theatre), The Corruption of Dorian Gray (The Lion and Unicorn), The Yellow Wallpaper (Royal Festival Hall), The Barretts of Wimpole Street (Jermyn Street Theatre), Bye Bye Birdie (Landor Theatre), The Yiddish Queen (Bridewell Theatre) and Woman in the Moon (Arcola Theatre).

Amanda Maud stars. Her theatre credits include Asian Pirate Musical (VAULTS Festival), Three Sisters (MK Gallery), Blueprint Medea (Finborough Theatre), Paulin, Becoming Berenice (Cockpit Theatre), Tamburlaine, The Belle of Bonavista Bay, The Evidence (UK tours), The Elephant Song (Karamel Klub), The Inspectors Call (Theatro Technis) and The Last Days of Limehouse (Limehouse Town Hall). For film, her credits include Zack Snyder's Justice League and Red Lipstick.

Eoin O'Dubhghaill stars. His theatre credits include 12:37 (Finborough Theatre), Sruth Na Teanga (Galway Airport), Nóra, Song of the Yellow Bittern (An Taibhdhearc), Dear Ireland - End Meeting and Baoite (Abbey Theatre, Dublin). His television credits include Ros na Rún (as series regular Fiach Ó Tuairisg), Grace Harte (as series regular Danny), Harry Wild and Aifric; and for film: Out of Innocence and Monster.

Giselle Wolf stars. Her theatre credits include Admissions (Trafalgar Studios), The Human Voice (Yvonne Arnaud/Thorndike Theatre), One Touch of Venus (King's Head Theatre), Barmitzvah Boy (Her Majesty's Theatre), Company (Plymouth Theatre), Gypsy (Connaught Theatre), Nine (Royal Festival Hall) and Oh, What A Lovely War (Bristol Old Vic). For television, her credits include The Dybbuk, Women Beware Women, Bognor, 2 Point 4 Children, Too Much Sun and Nancy Astor.

Julia Pascal trained as an actor before starting her career as a playwright and theatre director. She performed at The National Theatre, RSC, Nottingham Playhouse and Royal Court. Her adaptation of Dorothy Parker's prose and poetry, Men Seldom Make Passes, marked her as the first female director at The National Theatre. As a director, she has toured Harold Pinter's The Caretaker for the British Council. For the Orange Tree Theatre she was Associate Director where her productions included the plays of Bertolt Brecht and Fay Weldon. Her stage writing exposes hidden Jewish and other diaspora stories as well as highlighting women's unrepresented lives. Twenty-one of her stage plays have been produced in the UK and internationally. These include the Tricycle Theatre commission Crossing Jerusalem and The Holocaust Trilogy, which includes her adaption of Solomon Anski's The Dybbuk. In 2019, Blueprint Medea premièred at the Finborough Theatre. This re-visioned classic is inspired by Kurdish women soldiers fighting for national identity. In 2022, her exploration of Irish and Jewish nationalism, 12:37 premiered at the Finborough. Pascal's scripts have been produced at the Lyric Theatre, Riverside Studios, Arcola Theatre, Park Theatre, Tricycle Theatre, New End Theatre, Finborough Theatre and Edinburgh Festivals. In New York, she has presented work at Theatre for the New City and the Lincoln Centre's Director's Lab. Her awards include a Fellowship from the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts, Arts Council England, the BBC Alfred Bradley Prize, Cockayne Grants for the Arts, Moondance Columbine Prize, the Goethe Institute and the European Association for Jewish Culture. She was a finalist in The Judith Royer Award for Excellence in Playwriting and has just been offered a grant from the Jewish Historical Society England. Pascal has also written for television and radio. Her BBC World Service documentary, The Crime That Only Women Commit, was broadcast in 2022. For the 2022 Bloomsbury Festival she wrote and directed the site-specific performance Eleanor Marx: A Life In Movement: Dancing, Trailblazing, Taboo!. With Mary Luckhurst, she is currently co-writing The Doctoress. After gaining her doctorate from the University of York, Pascal became a Research Fellow at King's College, London.

A MANCHESTER GIRLHOOD

Blackpool Old Electric Theatre

20 April 2023 at 7pm

Box office: https://theoldelectric.co.uk/ / 01253 834 175

Tickets from £7

Manchester's Jewish Museum, Old Synagogue

23 April 2023 at 7pm

Box office: https://www.manchesterjewishmuseum.com/ / 0161 834 9879

Tickets from £14

Burgh House, London

17 May 2023 at 7pm

Booking link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-manchester-girlhood-tickets-530531141927

Tickets from £13.70

JW3, London

21 - 23 May 2023 at 7:30pm

Box office: https://www.jw3.org.uk/ / 020 7433 8988

Tickets from £20

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