On Her Shoulders

Very successful when first performed in London in 1908, Diana of Dobson’s introduces its audience to the overworked and underpaid female assistants at Dobson’s Drapery Emporium, whose only alternative to their dead-end jobs is the unlikely prospect of marriage. Although Cicely Hamilton calls the play “a romantic comedy,” like George Bernard Shaw she also criticizes a social structure in which so-called self-made men profit from the cheap labour of others, and men with good educations, but insufficient inherited money, look for wealthy wives rather than for work.

The Play in Context, which includes talkbacks by scholars and dramaturgs, and post- show discussion will be sponsored in part by the League of Professional Theatre Women a not-for-profit organization promoting visibility and increasing opportunities for women in theatre since 1982