In Harlots, playwright-producer Emma Wright has created a women’s refuge, specifically for the slandered, abused, ignored and relatively voiceless women of Shakespeare’s plays.

Offering open-ended residency, this safe space is operated by Paulina (Hannah Waterman), the indomitable noblewoman from A Winter’s Tale. Burrow-like, with tree roots winding their way across earthen walls, it’s a genuinely ‘underground’ operation. We’re deep down, insulated from the actions and decisions of men, but never quite safe. We sometimes hear their heavy stomping above. Sometimes it feels like we’re buried beneath Shakespeare’s Globe itself.

With Paulina is her queen from A Winter’s Tale, Hermione, whom Shakespeare disappears from the drama for 16 years after her husband accuses her – falsely – of having an affair which, in turn, causes her young son to die of grief.

Where did she go? Shakespeare isn’t clear, and scholars are divided. Some say she dies. Wright’s reading is that Paulina has hidden her and that, together, they have created a place where hurt can be healed away from the “temper of men”.

New Ghost Theatre’s Harlots at the Old Fitzroy. Photo © Phil Erbacher

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