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Dublin, 1850. The delicate balance at the heart of an affluent couple's marriage and family business is challenged when two visitors – a former enslaved woman and her emancipator – come to Ireland to speak to the public about trade, money and the abolition of slavery.
Exploring the dark side of global commodities, Elizabeth Kuti's's play The Sugar Wife offers an engrossing examination of sexual politics and political morality.
The play won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2006. It was first produced by Rough Magic, and performed at Project Arts Centre, Dublin, in 2005, before transferring to Soho Theatre, London. It was revived, in the version published here, at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in 2024, directed by Annabelle Comyn.
“Marvelous... intelligent and affecting.” —Sunday Tribune
“A moving play whose themes of charity, colonialism and morality resonate deeply.” —Guardian
“A consistently intelligent and beautifully shaped play.” —Irish Times
Elizabeth Kuti is a playwright and lecturer in drama. Her play The Sugar Wife won the 2006 Susan Smith Blackburn Award.
Her plays include: Fishskin Trousers (Finborough Theatre, 2013; revived at Park Theatre, London, 2017); The Six-Days World (Finborough Theatre, London, 2007); and The Sugar Wife (Rough Magic, Project Arts Centre, Dublin, 2005; Soho Theatre, London, 2006; Abbey Theatre, Dublin, 2024).
She teaches drama and playwriting at the University of Essex; and is a long-term collaborator with director Robert Price, with whom she founded Lubkinfinds Theatre.