52 items

• Review of Siren's Vinyl Album 'Siren Plays'
  
  The review is positive about Siren’s first album “Siren Plays’, praising their "articulate, strong and witty political portrayal of women's issues in an exclusively musical context." The review ends with a promotion of the gig Siren was playing as a band with Brighton band, Rhythm Tendency at The Pavilion Theatre.
• Siren Band Poster - defaced with homophobic and sexist comments
  
  CW: This digital reproduction contains sexist and homophobic language. This shows a poster advertising Siren band playing at the Emporium in Leicester that has been defaced. The poster had been defaced with what was described in a letter attached to the poster as anti-feminist and anti-gay comments.
• Siren Theatre Company 'Curfew' programme
  
  This shows the programme from the play ‘Curfew’. The front cover is a drawing of a women kicking out in self-defence. It gives a description of the play and a background of Siren. The play was directed by Pippa Gladhill. The programme acknowledges the poem (used in part) by Ntozake Shange “With No Immediate Cause’. The cover of the programme was created by Wendy Thompson. The image was also the poster for the play. The image of the women kicking out was taken from a photo and an article in the Brighton Argus about ‘Tiger Tash’ who taught women self-defence. The ’Tash’ referred to was Siren’s Tasha Fairbanks. The play was set in a lesbian club and explored themes of male violence against women.
• Siren Theatre Company Brighton Leader Newspaper Article (1987)
  
  Digital scan of a Brighton Leader Newspaper Article about a Siren performance of their play 'Hotel Destiny' at The Nightingale in Brighton, 1987. This shows a photo of Jane Boston as the character ‘Chance’ in Siren’s play ‘Hotel Destiny’. The photo was taken by Anita Corbin (but the photo is not of Ms Corbin, as wrongly described). The preview was for the opening of ‘Hotel Destiny’ at the Nightingale Theatre in Brighton.
• Siren Theatre Company Mama's Gone A'Hunting Flyer (top & lower half)
  
  This is one of a number of posters used to promote Siren’s play ‘Mama’s Gone A’Hunting’. It is created in the form of an urgent telegram outlining the plot of the show, stating that woman intends leaving for a new planet without man. The digitally produced poster was felt to be a ‘new’ form of photography at the time that it was on the high street, predating all the digitisation of photos that are now done on one’s own devices. Siren felt it reflected the futuristic content of the play.
• Siren Theatre Company Mamas Gone A Hunting Flyer
  
  A handmade flyer for Siren Theatre Company's performance 'Mamas Gone A Hunting'.
• Siren Theatre Company Queer Street Cassette (1985)
  
  This image set depicts the cover, front and back, and cassette tape of Siren’s music release ‘Siren in Queerstreet’. It shows a list of the 13 tracks on the cassette, which included songs from some of the plays as well as songs composed by various members of Siren, and performed by Siren band. The tape was recorded at Newhaven Boys’ Club and at Real Time Studio Billingshurst. Cover photo by Susy Taylor. This cassette was a mixture of home recording done by Deb Trethewey on a two track Sony reel-to-reel tape recorder, as well as some professionally recorded tracks at recording studios.
• Spare Rib and The Stage reviews of ‘Curfew’.
  
  Two reviews about the play ‘Curfew’ when it opened at the Oval House Theatre, London. The review at the top of the image is from 'Spare Rib', published in March 1982. It features a photo of Jane Boston as Calamity Jane. The review at the bottom of the photo is from 'The Stage', published in February 1982.
• 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.
• Spare Rib Review of Siren's 'Pulp'
  
  The play opened at the Drill Hall in London for 2 weeks in 1985 and was sold out every night. It returned to the Drill Hall in January 1986,. Manny describes Pulp as "a feminist play par excellence, brilliantly acted, refreshing, hilariously entertaining".
• Thank You Letter 1
  
  This shows a two-page letter from a young lesbian about to take her A-levels after seeing the play ‘Pulp’. This poignant letter reveals how hard it was to be identified as a lesbian at this time.
• Thank You Letter 2
  
  This shows a letter written after the play ‘Now Wash Your Hands Please’ to South East Regional Arts Association, asking for support and recognition for Siren to enable them to reach wider audiences.
• Thank You Letter 3
  
  This shows a letter of appreciation written after Siren had performed ‘Mama’s Gone A’Hunting’ at Boundstone School. The letter highlights that pupils staff and friends were impressed by the …’stimulating thought provoking performance'.
• Thank You Letter 4
  
  This shows a letter of appreciation from the Organiser of the theatre in Cricklade after seeing the play ‘From the Divine’.
• The Cornishman Review of 'Curfew' and 'Mama’s Gone A’Hunting'
  
  This is a review of two plays, 'Mama’s Gone A’Hunting' and 'Curfew', which were performed on two consecutive nights in St Ives at The Parish Rooms. As well as commenting on the performers acting ability, the review highlighted the lighting of both plays, as being harsh and beautiful.