Alison Neil presented The Shakespeare Ladies Club, Tales of Georgian London, to a packed house of the Tenby Arts Club last Friday at Church House.

In her one woman show, the audience were given a visual, dramatic and historical view of the lives of two women in Georgian London.

Resplendent in brown silk, the group were introduced to a young well to do young woman, Mary Cowper, with time on her hands and plenty of initiative and together with like-minded friends, Lady Shaftesbury and Elizabeth Boyd, set about reviving an interest in the works of William Shakespeare. They were part of cultured circles and met with the likes of Goldsmith, Gainsborough and Congreve, but they were bored with what passed for entertainment in the theatres.

They collected funds for a memorial to Shakespeare at Westminster Abbey.

It had to be bigger than to the one to Milton! Through subscriptions and their determination, they persuaded theatre managers to put on Shakespeare's plays, in Covent Garden and Drury Lane.

During one of the meetings, Mary Cowper encounters the young David Garrick and is quite taken with him and his speaking voice. Alas, David Garrick was an actor and in trade, his day job was as a wine merchant, and there was no possibility of a marriage. The pragmatic Miss Cowper marries a successful lawyer, Mr. De Gray, who also has a fine speaking voice.

There were successes and failures; audiences were not very keen to see Hamlet as it was a tragedy. But Shakespeare was making a comeback to English audiences.

The second half presented a different world and character. Kate Worthington, who is Mrs. Cowper De Gray's servant girl, in a simple grey dress, tells of her life a Lady Cowper De Gray's gathering. It is the life of the rural poor girl who first lived in fields in West London which are developed into Grosvenor Square. The family is relocated to Devon, where, because the father drinks and there are several children, life is hard.

Kate leaves for London, but as a naïve girl is seduced into prostitution.

Kate sends money back to her family, has a child, but has to give it up because of her circumstances. Kate discovers later that the child died.

She winds up in a debtors prison, but is saved by the kindness of a fellow prostitute. She also encounters the preachings of John Wesley, who helps her find her own worth. She also finds secure work with Mrs. Cowper De Grey.

Thus, Alison Neil, through her characters, shows two sides of London and Georgian Society and also her range as a character actor.

Alison Neil will return to Tenby to the Arts Festival in September with a character who made her living collecting fossils in Dorset.

The final event of the Arts Club will be the Memphis 7 at St. Mary's Church House at 8 pm tonight (Frday). Please note the change of venue.

Tickets are £5 for members, £6 non members. All welcome, including light refreshments.