A PLAY is being performed at venues along the original route of the Women's Suffragette March in 1913 to commemorate the centenary of the historic pilgrimage.
The production, called Oxygen, started in St Just yesterday and stops at six other theatres in Cornwall and a number of others en route to London over a five-week tour.
Organised by the Dreadnought South West Association, which seeks to engage communities with history, politics and social change, members of the team met at Land's End at midday to perform an episode from the production as a public showcase, paying tribute to the suffragettes' talks and demonstrations that took place at the start of the last century.
Many of the group then walked to St Just to honour the women of 1913 before starting proceedings at the town's Plain-an-Gwarry open air theatre.
Writer Natalie McGrath said that the play is inspired by the movement, particularly the 15 organisers who began the six-week march from west Cornwall.
"We are trying to celebrate their achievement," she said.
"It was a form of public protest that we don't often see today."
The playwright noted that the county was heavily involved in championing votes for women.
"Cornwall was very supportive of the cause – 15,000 men and women were influenced by the march."
Belinda Dillion, from the organisation, said the play seeks to underline the determination of the movement, but also challenge women's issues of 2013.
"The pilgrimage makes us think about today," she said.
"What would we be prepared to sacrifice?"
The play's second performance is today at The Acorn, Penzance.
Oxygen follows two sisters and what happens to their relationship when one of them takes the militant path and the other the peaceful pilgrimage.
