Hindle Wakes is a stage play by Stanley Houghton written in 1910. It was first performed in 1912.[1]
Plot
The play is set in the fictional mill town of Hindle in Lancashire in England, and concerns two young persons, Fanny Hawthorn and Alan Jeffcote, who are discovered to be having illicit sex during the town's wakes week. Class is a major plot point in the play; Fanny is a mill-hand in the factory owned by Alan's father and their respective fathers once worked together before Mr Jeffcote senior rose to owning a mill, while Mr Hawthorn continued as a mill worker.
After initial reluctance on the part of Mr Jeffcote senior, and the outright opposition of his wife (who suspects Fanny of being a gold-digger), the families pressure the couple to get married. Greatly to the surprise of everyone (including Alan) Fanny refuses. She makes it clear that she regarded the dalliance with Alan as "a bit of fun" and considers him a poor choice for a husband. She is disowned by her people but expresses confidence that her skills as a weaver will allow her to support herself in the future.[2][3]
Performances
Emélie Polini as Fanny Hawthorn in the Broadway production of Hindle Wakes (1912)
It was first performed in 1912 by Annie Horniman's Gaiety Theatre company, originally in Manchester and then in London and on Broadway. The character Fanny Hawthorn was played by Edyth Goodall in the original production. It was a controversial piece at the time it was first produced, and provoked a prolonged correspondence in the Pall Mall Gazette in which both the author, Stanley Houghton, and the original actress participated, with many correspondents questioning whether the play's treatment of non-marital sex would set a bad example. The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford placed all the theatres performing it out of bounds to students.[4]
The 100th anniversary of Stanley Houghton's Hindle Wakes was marked in 2012. In September 2012, the first London revival in over 30 years took place at Finborough Theatre (Earls Court) from the 11th to the 29th.
It has been filmed four times, twice in the silent era (1918, 1927), and twice in the sound era (1931, 1952) although the film versions have tended to open out the play considerably.
Mint Theater Company produced it in New York City in 2018.[5] This production was nominated for a Drama Desk Award Outstanding Revival of a Play.[6][7] This was the first time it has been produced in the United States in 95 years.[5]
