Wicked Girls

Bath Spa Productions presents new writing by Emma Williams, performed by final-year BA Acting students in collaboration with BA Theatre, Festival and Event Production students.

It is 1859. The Red House is celebrating its fifth year as a reformatory school for girls. Its mission is to subdue violent passions and offer a path away from evil. But the girls in its care have other ideas.

Seven girls navigate a world of religious instruction, domestic training and strict discipline. As the celebrations approach, the school's carefully ordered world begins to unravel.

Funny as it is tragic, Wicked Girls explores power, denial and the unruly energy of girls who refuse to be tamed.

Created from historical journals, museum records, ledgers, photographs and newspaper cuttings from England's first reformatory school, the play draws on the real names, ages, crimes and punishments of the girls who lived there. Their stories are factual. Their voices are imagined.