The Glove Thief (NHB Modern Plays)

The year is 1569, and in a cold, stone room in a Staffordshire castle, a group of women sew elaborate tapestries. Rich or poor, at home or held against their will, four women's lives intersect on the point of a needle. Embroidery is their escape, their sanity, and their expression: of love, loss, artistry and power. For these women's stitches have the power to change not just their own lives, but the course of English history. Inspired by the tapestries created when Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I, The Glove Thief by Beth Flintoff is part of Platform, an initiative from Tonic Theatre in partnership with Nick Hern Books. Aimed at addressing gender imbalance in theatre, Platform comprises big-cast plays with predominantly or all-female casts, written specifically for performance by young actors.

Beth Flintoff is a playwright and theatre director. Her plays include The Glove Thief (2017, commissioned by Tonic Theatre Company as part of their Platform scheme in association with Nick Hern Books); Matilda the Empress (Reading Between the Lines, Reading, 2017); and Greenham: One Hundred Years of War and Peace (a large-scale site specific performance piece performed on Greenham Common in September 2017). She was the founding Artistic Director of new-writing fringe ensemble Debut Theatre Company, and was Outreach Director at The Watermill Theatre in Berkshire.