About to be fired from her cleaning job for stealing a volume of Euripides, Jude turns her employer's outrage to shock by translating the ancient Greek on the spot. The employer, a Classics teacher, knows great talent when she sees it and the encounter kick-starts Jude's lifelong ambition to study at Oxford University. Entirely self-taught and possessing an astonishing gift for languages, Jude will stop at nothing to achieve her dream—but she remains oblivious to the hidden barriers that her background has placed in her path... Howard Brenton's play, loosely inspired by Thomas Hardy's novel “Jude the Obscure”, is a modern day tale of unexpected genius and of our struggle to accommodate extraordinary talent. “Jude” premiered at Hampstead Theatre in May 2019.
"'Grips constantly and sometimes shakes you... funny and satirically sharp'"
Theatrecat
"'Brenton's Judith is a fascinating character, an outsider who - despite the fierce intensity of her aspirations - can see the reality of the host nation... a humorous satire on the Oxford and England we know so well'"
