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What a Young Wife Ought to Know

What a Young Wife Ought to Know

By Hannah Moscovitch
Subjects: Women Writers, Family Life, Marriage & Divorce, Atlantic Playwrights, Nova Scotia
Casting: 2 f, 1 m
Duration: 75 minutes
Imprint: Playwrights Canada Press
Paperback : 9781770919860, 88 pages, August 2019
Ebook (EPUB) : 9781770919884, August 2019
Ebook (PDF) : 9781770919877, August 2019

Awards

  • Nominated, Governor General's Literary Awards 2019

Description

Just don’t lie down and no child will come.

It’s Ottawa in the 1920s, pre-legalized birth control. Sophie, a young working-class girl, falls madly in love with and marries a stable-hand named Jonny. After two difficult childbirths, doctors tell Sophie she shouldn’t have any more children, but don’t tell her how to prevent it. When Sophie inevitably becomes pregnant again, she faces a grim dilemma.

In an unflinching look at love, sex, and fertility, and inspired by real stories of mothers during the Canadian birth-control movement of the early twentieth century, one of Canada’s most celebrated playwrights vividly recreates a couple’s struggles with reproduction.

Reviews

“Brace yourself for a heart-wrenching experience that will provoke tears and laughter. ” 

- Lynn Saxberg, Ottawa Citizen

“By giving the women of the 1920s a voice, Moscovitch has given many contemporary women a voice as well. What a Young Wife Ought to Know is more than a compelling history lesson, it is an opportunity to contemplate the state of sexual health and freedom in our society today… 3 ? stars (out of 4)” 

- Meghan Hubley, The Globe and Mail

“The play adds to necessary, current conversations around representation of women, gender inequity and female sexuality. ”

- Karen Fricker, Toronto Star