Samuel Pepys called her ‘a mad, conceited, ridiculous woman’. Virginia Woolf said her plays were ‘intolerable’. They all called her ‘Mad Madge’. We’d call her Margaret Cavendish.
Born 1623. A prolific writer. A casual scientist and self-proclaimed philosopher. Duchess of Newcastle.
Her plays were never performed in her lifetime. To make up for it, we’re giving Madge her own one-woman musical.
Performed by Anna Hale, and written by duo Clare Packham and Fintan Kealy, ‘It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad Madge’ is a new one-woman musical, where stand-up meets manifesto.
Part of Wandsworth New Writing Festival.