Raising the wreck of a groundbreaking lesbian drama

Developed from the original 1985 Gay Sweatshop production - which was something of a ground-breaking drama, bringing lesbian lives to the fore - Raising the Wreck - Revisited comes to Salford, Liverpool and Ellesmere Port in November.

The drama has been produced by internationally-touring Sea Change Theatre, set up in 2016 by writer, activist and ''queer theatre legend" Sue Frumin, to highlight gender imbalance in the arts.

Based on true stories of women pirates, the play is set in a sunken galleon, where four long-dead women seafarers - Mary Read, Grace O'Malley, Zoa and Aku - tell their stories to Jenny, a contemporary woman.

In this updated version, Jenny has found herself back on the wreck - with a mobile phone and a lot of unanswered questions relating to the advances of technology, artificial intelligence, the "Manosphere" and the futility of war. Directed by Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder, the production features an all-female cast.

"I remember Raising the Wreck as a ground-breaking drama bringing lesbian lives to the fore," she said. "It's fitting that it should be reintroduced to a new audience, 40 years after first being produced,” said BernadineEvaristo, who starred in the original production and has since become the first Black British woman to win the Booker Prize.

You can see the revised drama at The Empty Space, Media City, Salford (November 5-7); Unity Theatre, Liverpool (November 12), and Theatre Porto, Ellesmere Port (November 21-22).

More info and tickets here