A SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. TITLE

Ugly Sisters

Full-Length Play, Satire/Political Satire  /  2w

by Charli Cowgill and Laurie Ward

“I'm here with you too, Germaine – lying awake at night and wondering where that last century went.”

Ugly Sisters

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2w
  • Duration
    Duration
    60 minutes (1 hour)
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades
  • Winner! 2024 Untapped Award

Details

Summary

On the day The Female Eunuch is issued in America, a transgender woman in flapping draperies rushes up to Germaine Greer and says, “Thank you… thank you so much for all you’ve done for us girls”

Ugly Sisters is an operatic, heretic, parasitic and hallucinatory retelling of this very moment, of sisterhood, of all feminist history.

Publishing in conjunction with the run at Underbelly, Cowgate, Edinburgh Fringe from 1st August.

History
Ugly Sisters was first produced by piss / CARNATION at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2024.
Cast Attributes
Performing Groups

GERMAINE GREER – F, multiple ages, played by a trans woman.
FLAPPING DRAPERIES – F, multiple ages, played by a trans woman.
STAGE MANAGER – Should be the production’s actual stage manager.

Other figures appear throughout the course of the play to be played by the two performers, such as the MC and the BACKUP DANCER. These are not characters as such, but figures of fantasy, forces of stagecraft, or human props in the scene.

  • Time Period Contemporary
  • Setting Here. 1990 and now.
  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes
  • Additional Features No Intermission
  • Duration 60 minutes (1 hour)

Media

“A groundbreaking exploration of womanhood.” — Broadway World

“It feels almost trivial to add that Ugly Sisters has a resonance beyond Greer and Trans-Exclusion: but it depicts the trauma of admiring a hero who then betrays through vicious immorality.” — Fest Magazine

“It is exhilarating, scintillating.” — The Scotsman

“Raw and riotous.” — The Stage

ON BREAKING CHARACTER

2024 Edinburgh Fringe Spotlight
Matt Law
30 July 2024

Licensing & Materials



  • This title is not currently available for performance. To be informed as soon as it becomes available in the future, please submit a license application.

Scripts

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Authors

Laurie Ward

Laurie Ward
Laurie Ward is a transfeminine theatremaker, based in London, producing work as one half of piss / CARNATION. Her credits include 52 Monologues for Young Transsexuals (Soho Theatre); Ugly Sisters (New Diorama Theatre, Untapped).
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Charli Cowgill

Charli Cowgill
Charli Cowgill is a London-based performer, and writer for stage. She graduated in English from the University of Cambridge, and has since produced work as co-lead artist in piss / CARNATION. Her credits as writer and performer include: 52 Monologues for Young Transsexuals ( ...
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