Not Such Quiet Girls

A new commission marking the centenary of the end of World War I, which shines a light on the neglected stories of women during conflict.

Bringing together an all-female chorus and three female actors, this musical drama weaves a moving narrative through staged scenes, film projections, music hall songs and forgotten rarities by early 20th century female composers.

Inspired by Helen Zenna Smith’s novel Not So Quiet, Radclyffe Hall’s war account in The Well of Loneliness, and the life of war artist and ambulance driver Olive Mudie-Cooke, Not Such Quiet Girls tells the stories of three women at the front line of the First World War.

Jessica Walker’s previous work for Opera North includes her collaboration with Neil Bartlett, The Girl I Left Behind Me, about male impersonators on the music-hall stage:

“A drolly celebratory yet also piercingly poignant guide to a neglected chapter in showbiz and lesbian history. This show is not to be missed.”

The Independent on Jessica Walker’s The Girl I Left Behind Me (2011)

Image credit: In An Ambulance : A VAD Lighting a Cigarette For a Patient, by Olive Mudie-Cooke. ©Imperial War Museum (Art.IWM ART 3051)