The Fighting Days

The Fighting Days tells the story of real-life Canadian suffragists Francis Marion Beynon, Nellie McClung and Lillian Beynon Thomas, who fought for equality and the right to vote in Winnipeg in the 1910s. In this retelling of their story, Wendy Lill explores the divisive aspects of war and the struggle to find a balance between patriotism and pacifism in a time of crisis. The play focuses on Beynon, a journalist and political activist who joined the movement and became the women’s-page editor for a local newspaper, where she wrote controversial pieces about women’s rights. When World War I begins, the suffragists are divided as to which women should have the right to vote: those with husbands or sons in the war, or those without.