Love, lust, prostitution and slavery in a 19th-century Quaker household.

A devout Quaker, her wealthy husband, a freed American slave and her emancipator come together in 1840s Dublin. As they interact, each is revealed to be rather less high-minded than they would like to be thought.

Elizabeth Kuti's play The Sugar Wife was first performed at Project Arts Centre, Dublin, in April 2005 in a production by Rough Magic. The production transferred to Soho Theatre, London, in January 2006.

This edition is published alongside the 2024 revival at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.

The Sugar Wife won the 2006 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

About the Author
Elizabeth Kuti is a playwright and lecturer in drama. Her plays include Fishskin Trousers (Finborough Theatre, 2013; revived at Park Theatre, London, 2017); The Six-Days World (Finborough Theatre, London, 2007); and The Sugar Wife (Soho Theatre, 2006; winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Award). She teaches drama and playwriting at the University of Essex; and is a long-term collaborator with director Robert Price, with whom she founded Lubkinfinds Theatre.

Reviews

'Marvellous... intelligent and affecting'

* Sunday Tribune *

'A moving play whose themes of charity, colonialism and morality resonate deeply'

* Guardian *

'A consistently intelligent and beautifully shaped play'

* Irish Times *


Awards
Winner of Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2006.



Book Information
ISBN 9781839043475
Author Elizabeth Kuti
Format Paperback
Page Count 96
Imprint Nick Hern Books
Publisher Nick Hern Books