Theatre and politics: suffragist theatre in the United States

Abstract

One of the publicity tools used by British and then American suffragists was theatre. Suffragist theatre was written for a clear purpose, which was none other than political propaganda and performance as part of the campaign being conducted. In many cases, the plays performed reflected the situation in which women lived, denouncing their circumstances; in others, they were didactic works, explaining in a very simple and clear way the actions that were being carried out to secure women's rights.

Keywords

• Suffragist movement
• United States
• theatre
• political texts