Rural Suffolk, 1759. As the country waits for Halley's Comet, Sally Poppy is sentenced to hang for a heinous murder. When she claims to be pregnant, a jury of twelve matrons are taken from their housework to decide whether she's telling the truth, or simply trying to escape the noose. With only midwife Lizzy Luke prepared to defend the girl, and a mob baying for blood outside, the matrons wrestle with their new authority, and the devil in their midst. Lucy Kirkwood's play The Welkin premiered at the National Theatre, London, in 2020, directed by James Macdonald and featuring Maxine Peake and Ria Zmitrowicz.
"'An achingly romantic, Balkan Romeo and Juliet story... Memic, writing about the hometown he left aged two, has a gift for character and atmosphere... a remarkably assured debut, shot through with ardour and pain, recalling history that's recent and raw'"
Evening Standard
"'[A] wholly deserving [winner of the Papatango Prize], with the writer bringing a faultless naturalism to conversational dialogue... you're carried along by these characters and their quirks, even as their home is transformed into a combat zone. It's made all the more remarkable by the fact that Old Bridge is Memic's debut play'"
Whatsonstage
"'A chilling jolt to the memory... a powerful and moving reminder of the fragility of the peace that we take too easily for granted'"
