A new play inspired by an imagined meeting between two great leaders of the women’s suffrage campaign is coming to Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre.

The Cause depicts the explosive meeting of minds when Millicent Fawcett and Emmeline Pankhurst come together at a time when campaigns for women’s rights were at their most revolutionary & embattled.

Written by playwright Natalie McGrath, and directed by Josie Sutciffe, The Cause explores the struggle, and the effects of campaigning for a cause by different methods. There was a divide between the violent direct action of the suffragettes and the peaceful constitutional means of the suffragist.

Director Josie Sutcliffe said: “This play considers the impact of a lifetime of political campaigning on an individual, asking: ‘how far would you go for what you believe in?’

"Many women gave up a great deal; home, family, children, and in some cases their own lives, to join the suffrage campaign.

"We hope that The Cause will provide a stimulus for debates on gender inequality, democracy and citizenship amongst many different groups within the communities we will visit.”

The play is produced by Dreadnought South West, a charity which connects individuals and communities through telling great and courageous stories about women.

With funding from Arts Council England, The Cause will tour the South West and visit Taunton’s Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre.

Dreadnought South West’s previous projects include Oxygen, a play which tells the story of a group of women who walked from Land’s End to Hyde Park as part of the Great Suffrage Pilgrimage in 1913.

The Cause will tour along this route and beyond, reaching a wide range of venues and locations from the Old Library in Bodmin to Yeld Hall, Chippenham.

The production is led by an all-female creative team, cast and crew and aims to reflect the diversity and challenges women face in contemporary society.

The Cause comes to Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre on Tuesday, September 25 2018.

Tickets available from their Box Office,or online at tacchi-morris.com