Masterpieces

Sarah Daniels’ play about pornography was premiered at Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre in 1983, and seen at London’s Royal Court Theatre in 1983. Masterpieces opens on three couples – Rowena and Trevor, their friends Hilary and Ron, and Rowena’s mother Jennifer and stepfather Clive – having dinner in a restaurant. They exchange sexist jokes to a variety of responses: some laugh uproariously, some uncomfortably, and one is deeply unhappy. Masterpieces is the story of Rowena, and her journey from seeing a pornographic magazine for the first time, to a thwarted attempt to help an unhappy prostitute, from uncomfortable laughter, to radical and disgusted protest at female subjugation. A passionate indictment of pornography, the objectification of women and those who condone violence against them.

The first professional London production in 35 years