# Scarlet Harlets

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**Scarlet Harlets** was a women's theatre company based in London during the 1980s; it later changed its name to **Scarlet Theatre**. The company created [physical theatre](/source/Physical_theatre) productions through a process of collaboration between the actors, the scriptwriter or translator, and the director.

## History

Scarlet Harlets was established in 1981, by Susan Paxton[1] and Tessa Crockett.[2] Shelley Graham joined in 1982 on Crockett's suggestion and Gaia Shaw joined as artistic designer and puppeteer.[2] Chris Bowler later worked with the Scarlet Harlets as a director.[3]

Scarlet Harlets operated as a collective of five members at most, working together intensively for months of rehearsal. The result, in the case of *Toe on the Line* at least, was "a show in which the bonding of the three actors to one another was extended into an intimate relationship with the audience".[4]

*We Who Were the Beautiful* (after [Auguste Rodin](/source/Auguste_Rodin)'s sculpture *Celle qui fut la belle Heaulmière*) was the company's debut production in May 1982.[2][5] The show examined parallels between the [witch trials in the Middle Ages](/source/Witch_trials_in_the_early_modern_period) and the treatment of women in modern [psychiatric hospitals](/source/Psychiatric_hospital).[2] The production subsequently toured to several countries including Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Czechoslovakia.[2][6][7] On the back of this show the company received funding from the [Greater London Council](/source/Greater_London_Council).[2]

## Productions

Subsequent shows included *Out of Bounds* in 1982/3,[2][8] *Broken Circle* in 1984,[2] *Toe on the Line* in 1985,[2] *80 Days Soul* in 1986,[2] *Appetite of the Heart* in 1987,[9][2][10] *La Folie* in 1988/9, *(R) Age* in 1990, *Vows* in 1991, *Baby Baby* in 1992, *On Air* in 1993, *The Sisters* in 1995, and *Paper Walls* also in 1995.[11][12]

In 1997 Scarlet Theatre decided to include men in their show *Princess Sharon* at the [Royal Festival Hall](/source/Royal_Festival_Hall). The reason for this was described by [Lizbeth Goodman](/source/Lizbeth_Goodman) and Jane de Gay as "to break out of the ghetto of lower-funded 'women's work'".[13] *[The Independent](/source/The_Independent)* commented that while "women's companies have all but faded from the scene ... [*Princess Sharon*] is a genuine departure: this time there are men on stage too."[13] The newspaper suggested that this might encourage the [Arts Council](/source/Arts_Council_England) to fund such theatre companies rather better.[13][14]

## Rehearsal process

The Scarlet Harlets collective evolved into Scarlet Theatre. The actress Kate Eaton records that she translated the Cuban playwright [Virgilio Piñera](/source/Virgilio_Pi%C3%B1era)'s 1957 *The Wedding* (Spanish: *La Boda*) for Scarlet Theatre in 2003, collaborating with the actors and the artistic director Grainne Byrne, and enjoying "the actors' ability to literally think on their feet".[15] The company's process for [rehearsal](/source/Rehearsal) included a week for [research and development](/source/Research_and_development), during which the actors were allowed to improvise so as to identify characters and suitable story elements. The writer took this material and made it into a script over the next few months. The actors then worked with the script in their rehearsals. This process was modified somewhat to permit the adaptation of pre-existing scripts, whether in English or translated. It was adapted one step further to include the commissioning of fresh translations by people such as Eaton who would join in the collaboration as part of the creative team.[2][15]

## Reception

Telory Williamson reviewed Scarlet Theatre's 1996 adaptation, *The Sisters* of [Anton Chekhov](/source/Anton_Chekhov)'s *[The Three Sisters](/source/Three_Sisters_(play))* for *[Theatre Journal](/source/Theatre_Journal)*. She described the director Katarzyna Deszcz's project of integrating the "actors, design, lights, music, and text as equal players in the stage space"[16] as reflecting the teachings of the Polish director [Tadeusz Kantor](/source/Tadeusz_Kantor). Williamson argued that this "fits well with the Scarlet Theatre's process of generating material through improvisation and physical characterization."[16] She praised Deszcz for combining excellent "physical theatre and psychological subject matter, employing both abstract gestures and a keen sense of physical clowning."[16] Equally, she admired the production's "simple and clever reference to Chekhovian stagnation" through repetition of lines, mirroring the characters trapped in their unchanging domestic setting.[16]

Maddy Costa, reviewing Scarlet Theatre's *Love and Other Fairy Tales* for *The Guardian* at the Edinburgh Festival of 2001, described it as "a magical piece, a playful, witty take on the Wife of Bath's Prologue and Tale that brings out all of Chaucer's modernity and bawdy humour."[17] She considered the play perfect for the company, since it was "intelligent, physically demanding and deliciously romantic".[17] The *[Evening Standard](/source/Evening_Standard)* commented that while the production was at one level just "a delightful exercise in bawdiness and medieval caricature",[18] at a deeper level it offered emotional insights into "unpalatable realities".[18] The reviewer enjoyed the comedy on offer, and admired the tight theatrical pace of the directors Grainne Byrne and Katarzyna Deszcz.[18]

## References

1. Paxton, Susan. ["Biography"](https://www.visualaids.org/artists/detail/susan-paxton). *Visual AIDS*. Retrieved 26 November 2015.

1. ["Scarlet Harlets"](http://www.unfinishedhistories.com/history/companies/scarlet-harlets/). *Unfinished Histories*. 2010. Retrieved 26 November 2015.

1. Westlake, Hilary (5 June 2014). ["Chris Bowler obituary"](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/jun/05/chris-bowler). *The Guardian*. Retrieved 26 November 2015.

1. Carlson, Susan (1991). [*Women and Comedy: Rewriting the British Theatrical Tradition*](https://archive.org/details/womencomedyrewri0000carl). University of Michigan Press. pp. [277](https://archive.org/details/womencomedyrewri0000carl/page/277)–278. ISBN 0-472-10187-0.

1. ["We Who Were the Beautiful"](http://theatricalia.com/play/57z/we-who-were-the-beautiful/production/bf1). Theatricalia. Retrieved 26 November 2015.

1. ["Fools 3 – 1982"](http://kit.dk/2015/A_FOOLS_3.htm). KIT Denmark. Retrieved 26 November 2015.

1. ["Scarlet harlets"](https://www.ausstage.edu.au/pages/organisation/11109). AusStage. Retrieved 26 November 2015. We Who Were the Beautiful, Napier Street Theatre, South Melbourne, 8 July 1993

1. ["Out of Bounds"](http://www.bristol.ac.uk/theatrecollection/search/play_sub_collection?notes2=Scarlet%20Harlets%20are%20a%20feminist%20theatre%20collective%20who%20share%20their%20skills,%20devising%20and%20performing%20work%20as%20a%20united%20whole.&theatre2=Oval%20House,%20Kennington%20Oval%20London&season2=1982-1983&play_title2=Out%20of%20Bounds&unique_key=10129&image_view=Yes&x=19&y=20&query_image=). *Theatre Collection*. University of Bristol.

1. ["Poster S.2727-1994"](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1163437/poster-ainslee-sarah/). [Victoria and Albert Museum](/source/Victoria_and_Albert_Museum). 19 April 1987. Retrieved 26 November 2015.

1. ["Production Archive. Scarlet Theatre to Scarlet Harlets"](http://www.scarlettheatre.co.uk/pastfuture/harlets_01.asp). Scarlet Theatre. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20080210062238/http://www.scarlettheatre.co.uk/pastfuture/harlets_01.asp) 10 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 26 November 2015.

1. Cousin, Geraldine (January 2000). ["Scarlet Theatre"](https://books.google.com/books?id=I0aNCqocAGsC&pg=PA4). *Recording Women: A Documentation of Six Theatre Productions*. Psychology Press. pp. 4–53. ISBN 978-90-5755-092-8.

1. Aston, Elaine (2003). [*Feminist Views on the English Stage: Women Playwrights, 1990–2000*](https://books.google.com/books?id=7gKbOtLXrtkC&pg=PA236). Cambridge University Press. pp. 13–14, 186, 152, 210. ISBN 978-1-139-44153-7.

1. Goodman, Lizbeth & Gay, Jane de (2002). [*The Routledge Reader in Gender and Performance*](https://books.google.com/books?id=EO6FAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA121). Routledge. pp. 120–121. ISBN 978-1-134-70760-7., also citing *[The Independent](/source/The_Independent)* of 5 April 1997.

1. Benedict, David (18 September 2011). ["Theatre"](https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/theatre-5573680.html). *The Independent*. Retrieved 26 November 2015.

1. Eaton, Kate (2012). ["Turnips or Sweet Potatoes ...?"](https://books.google.com/books?id=cEjrwSN0OdsC&pg=PA180). *Translation, Adaptation and Transformation*. Raw, Laurence (ed.). A&C Black. pp. 180–187. ISBN 978-1-4411-0856-2.

1. Williamson, Telory (1997). ["The Sisters (review)"](https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/theatre_journal/v049/49.2pr_scarlet_theatre.html). *Theatre Journal*. **49** (2): 231–233. [doi:10.1353/tj.1997.0048](https://doi.org/10.1353/tj.1997.0048)

1. Costa, Maddy (11 August 2001). ["Love and Other Fairy Tales"](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2001/aug/11/edinburghfestival2001.edinburghfestival1). *[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)*. Retrieved 26 November 2015.

1. ["Pilgrim's progress in Chaucer comedy"](https://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/theatre/pilgrims-progress-in-chaucer-comedy-7434526.html#). *[London Evening Standard](/source/London_Evening_Standard)*. 10 April 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2015.

## External links

- [Scarlet Theatre website](http://www.scarlettheatre.co.uk/pastfuture/harlets_01.asp)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Scarlet Harlets](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlet_Harlets) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlet_Harlets?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.