Feminist Dramaturgy in Practice: Lazarus Theatre Company’s Staging of Elizabeth Cary’s The Tragedy of Mariam.

In 2013, Lazarus Theatre Company staged a production of Elizabeth Cary’s 400-year-old play The Tragedy of Mariam, the first original play in English to be published by a woman under her own name. Mariam remains an esoteric, rarely performed play and the Lazarus production represents an important intervention in the play’s performance history. This chapter explores the unique gender politics of this production and the significance of its fringe context. Taking Lazarus’s Mariam as a case study, we focus on how editing, casting, staging and ensemble work combined to constitute what we term feminist dramaturgy and we suggest that such an approach can help develop innovative and imaginative productions of classical drama that can lead the way in putting women centre stage.