Ensuring inspirational women aren't erased from history - East Sussex tour

The point is to stop them being erased from history, says Deborah who lives near Rye. And that’s precisely what she is doing with Conception: Mary Shelley – The Making of a Monster. As she says, everyone knows the life of Frankenstein, but very few people know the even more remarkable life of the woman who created him. The play celebrates Mary Shelley on the 200th anniversary of the first edition of Frankenstein to bear her name. Among the dates on tour are The Grove Theatre, Eastbourne on September 22-23 and Winchelsea New Hall, Winchelsea on October 13.

In October 1840., Gothic writer Mary Shelley returns to Lake Geneva, the birthplace of her most famous novel 20 years previously. Haunted by the ghosts of her husband, Percy Shelley, Byron and others from that infamous “year without a summer”, she embarks on a profound voyage of self-discovery resulting in a brutal confrontation with the very creation that made her name.

As Deborah says, the life of Mary Shelley reads like the plot of one of her tragic Gothic novels. Suffering three infant deaths and one miscarriage that almost killed her she then lost the love of her life, Percy, drowned in a yachting accident, in her early 20s: “Her husband was a wonderful poet but was possibly not the best person to be married to and then he drowned just because he hadn't learned to swim. Gentlemen didn't learn to swim...” Deserted by friends and with little money or means to support her one surviving son, Mary became known as the widow of Percy and some even questioned whether she was the author of Frankenstein: “And yet, in the face of a misogynistic, critical society, this single mother went on to write a further eight novels, more than 50 short stories and essays and even, in a typically selfless act, brought together her husband’s writings in a complete works edition that made Percy’s name.” As Deborah, who wrote, directs and stars in the play, says: “In Mary Shelley’s day society dictated the need for women to be wives. If not, the other paths were decidedly perilous: spinster, divorced, widow, harlot… corpse. Mary was completely off-grid with her choices – elopement, travel, children out of wedlock, a thinker and writer. Her life straddled two eras – Romantic and Victorian – and the latter really didn’t know what to do with her!

“She had such an extraordinary life but I hadn't really thought about Mary Shelley until I saw a Facebook post trying to claim that the fathers of sci-fi were Edgar Allan Poe and HG Wells. But they missed out Mary and that's really what this play is all about. It's about shining a light to make sure that women are not ignored or erased from history. It’s a mission of mine to stop that happening and that's why we are looking at Mary Shelley.”

​Conception is directed by Lucy Speed who starred in EastEnders and The Bill and is currently playing Stella in The Archers. It is produced by award-winning actor, writer, director and producer, Nicholas Collett.

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