The Four Northwomen

Book excerpt: In her first collection of plays, writer and BAFTA-nominated actor Maxine Peake introduces four unique stories of resistance and passion based on real women. From the famous Leeds-born cyclist Beryl Burton battling through various obstacles to achieve success; to Lillian Bilocca, the 'headscarf revolutionary'; to four bold women protesting for Women Against Pit Closures, occupying a coal pit over Easter weekend in 1993; to former MP Baroness Betty Boothroyd, the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House of Commons. Follow these women as Peake guides you through their stories with warmth and Northern candor. Beryl (2014): '...it is impossible to puncture the play's warmth... Beryl ensures audiences are holding on tight to the handlebars before rushing off with zeal into the life of a woman who deserves to be better known.' - Broadway World UK The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca (2017): 'Last Testament is exhilarating and moving, a show made for and with the people of Hull... It speaks truth to power and celebrates not just Bilocca but all the women who refuse to be shut up – then and now.' - The Stage Queens of the Coal Age (2018): '...a welcome corrective... a fierce cry for recognition, foregrounding the grit and resolve of the miners' wives who kept the strike of 1984-85 alive and went down fighting in the industry's dying days.' - Guardian 'Betty!' A Sort of Musical (2023): '...a timely and refreshing reminder that sometimes our politicians can have noble intentions... a charmingly daft comic biography of Baroness Betty Boothroyd, who resolutely held power to account across her groundbreaking, decades-long career.' - The Stage Maxine Peake, three-time BAFTA-nominated actor, writer, director and producer, has enjoyed a prolific career as a performer for screen and theatre, and as a writer for stage and radio. On television she has starred in Shameless, The Village, Anne, and Say Nothing; while her film roles have included The Theory of Everything, Peterloo, Funny Cow, and Words of War. In addition to being an acclaimed playwright, Maxine has led a diverse range of stage plays such as The Welkin, Hamlet and A Streetcar Named Desire.