8 items

• 'From the Divine' Poster.
  
  Digital reproduction of the poster for the Siren play 'From the Divine'. This shows a photo of two toy soldiers and a toy tank falling over on the keys of a piano. The play was devised by Siren and scripted by Tasha Fairbanks following the Falklands War in 1982. It was directed by Sylvia Vickers. Siren used as a starting point for devising the play, a photograph from a newspaper of a group of women waving off the troops to the Falkland war, one of whom has lifted her tops showing her bare breasts behind a Union Jack flag. The play explored the role of women in supporting wars throughout the centuries.
• City Limits 1983 – review of ‘From the Divine’ by Barney Bardsley
  
  Digital reproduction of the cover of City Limits magazine, with a review of Siren's play ‘From the Divine', which was performed at Hoxton Hall and Jackson’s Lane theatres, London.
• Evening Argus review of ‘From the Divine’
  
  Digital reproduction of a review in the Evening Argus of Siren's play ‘From the Divine', which opened at the Pavilion Theatre, Brighton.
• Photos from From the Divine
  
  A collection of images from Siren's show 'From the Divine'. 1. This shows a photo of Tasha Fairbanks as Harry, together with the ventriloquist’s dummy, also called Harry. Tasha learnt ventriloquism from a book she took out of the library, leading up to the show. In most of the plays, it was mainly Tasha who cross-dressed to take the male parts. 2. This shows two photos from the contact sheet of photos of “From the Divine’. The first is of Jude Winter as Lily dancing with Tasha Fairbanks as Harry. The second is of Jane Boston as Ruby, with Tasha Fairbanks and Jude Winter. Although Siren always requested the return of their photos, this often did not happen, leaving the company without the original prints, hence the use of the contact sheet to show some of the images. 3. This shows a photo from the contact sheet of photos of ‘From the Divine’. It is over Jude Winter as Lily the ‘sweet good girl,’ dancing to the music of Jane Boston as Ruby, the ‘naughty bad girl’, as women were often portrayed during the war. Siren began embracing glamour for this play, leaving behind much of the agitprop look of the earlier shows.
• Programme for Siren's play 'From the Divine'
  
  Digital Reproduction of the centre pages and back page of the programme for the Siren Play 'From the Divine'. 1. This shows the people involved in the production, as well as a breakdown of scenes in Act 1 and Act 2 of the play. The programme acknowledges funding (for the first time) for Siren from South East Arts Association and Eastern Arts Association. 2. This shows an advert from the GLC Women’s Committee welcoming Siren to London with its anti-war play, ‘From the Divine’. It has an image of the GLC Peace Statue from the South Bank in London.
• Spare Rib review of ‘From the Divine ‘
  
  Digital reproduction of the cover of Spare Rib, and the review of Siren’s show ‘From the Divine’. The reviewer, Liz Horsfield, writes that Lily is far more interested in Ruby [or}“is it me being a lesbian that makes me think so?” No matter how ‘out’ Siren was as a company, it perhaps wasn’t always obvious to the audience or reviewers.
• The Enfield Time Off preview of ‘From the Divine’
  
  This shows a preview of “From the Divine’ which was performed at The Millfield House Arts Centre in Edmonton, London. Ticket prices were shown as £1.75 full price or £1.15 concessionary fare.
• The Stage review of Siren's play ‘From the Divine’
  
  Digital reproduction of a review in The Stage of Siren's play 'From the Divine', when it was performed at the Oval House Theatre, London. The review was particularly positive about the performance of Tasha Fairbanks as Harry and her manipulation of the ventriloquist dummy, Harry, as they both merge into one person.