It’s 1938 in the staffroom of Easthaven Girls’ High School where nine women teachers negotiate a school day.
The system is claustrophobic to some and the standard to others. Underscoring it all is unhappiness.
For the loveless, the bitterness spews forth as jealousy, gossip and derision into classroom and staffroom alike. Lovers are thwarted by the system; if you marry, you must resign, so the law would have it.
‘Morning Sacrifice’ is Dymphna Cusak’s response to her years of dissatisfaction with teaching in the system of her time.
Meg said: “Working on ‘Morning Sacrifice’ has been a delight. The play, although written in the 1940s, echoes the troubles of teaching and workplace bullying, while also dealing with attitudes towards women and the young and the sheer stubborn resistance to change we still encounter today.
“I’m delighted to be given the gift of working with eight other women on a project about women, and women against women (still a running theme in modern society) and relish the chance to explore a character that is the complete opposite to me.”
Directed by Rough Hewn Theatre Troupe’s inspirational company founder Geoff Cartwright, it is at times hilariously funny but ultimately heartbreaking in its evocation of stymied love.
Catch it at The Star of the Sea Theatre from October 17-26.
Tickets: $30/$15 concession.
Bookings: trybooking.com/BCWBQ.
Teaching woe, bullying same in 40s play
POWERFUL new women’s drama, ‘Morning Sacrifice, starring Summer Hill’s Meg Shooter and Lilyfield’s Olga Tamara, will probe how lovelessness is a bitter pill to swallow when it debuts next month.