alphabetical author index

Dangerous Daughters

The lives and loves of Christabel, Sylvia and Adela Pankhurst, the three daughters of Emmeline Pankhurst, the figurehead of Britain's radical Suffragette movement.

  • Full Length Musical
  • Drama, Docudrama/Historic

  • Time Period: 1910s / WWI
  • Target Audience: Teen (Age 14 - 18), Adult
The lives and loves of Christabel, Sylvia and Adela Pankhurst, the three daughters of Emmeline Pankhurst, the figurehead of Britain's radical Suffragette movement.

The Pankhursts were a family divided, a family often at war. Christabel dedicated her life to the cause and let nothing, not even the pursuit of love and happiness, stand in the way of women's emancipation. By 1918 when the battle for women's suffrage had finally been won, Sylvia was estranged from the Suffragettes and from her own mother and Chrisabel, and Adela, the youngest, had been banished by Christabel to Australia.

The musical tells the stories of these three remarkable sisters set against the First World War and other great events of the time. The story culminates with the victory of the Suffragettes and the disintegration of the Pankhurst family.

  • Casting: 3M, 11F
  • Chorus Size: Medium

  • EMMELINE PANKHURST - forties/fifties. A woman who has discovered her potential later in life. Strong. Brave. Dedicated. At time ruthless. Widowed.
    CHRISTABEL PANKHURST - twenties/thirties. Eldest daughter and Emmeline's favoured child. Appears to be a strong, born leader but hides a fragile and conflicted inner self.
    SYLVIA PANKHURST - twenties/thirties. Second daughter. An artist. A compassionate socialist. Lover of a much older man. True to herself and her beliefs.
    ADELA PANKHURST - twenties. Youngest daughter. A fragile idealist often overlooked by her mother and sisters.
    PANSY TUKE - twenties/forties. Leading member of the WSPU whose health was broken by the struggle.
    GRACE ROE - twenties/forties. Leading member of the WSPU. Daughter of a wealthy family.
    EMILY WILDING-DAVIDSON - twenties/thirties. Radical and driven member of the WSPU who threw herself under the king's horse in the 1913 Derby.
    ANNIE KENNEY - twenties/thirties. Working class ex-mill girl and early member of the WSPU. Mercurial, enchanting and at times cruel. In love with Christabel.
    FLORA DRUMMOND - thirties/fifties. Leading member of the WSPU. Organiser and disciplinarian known as the 'General'.
    HELEN CRAGGS - twenties/thirties. School teacher who joined the WSPU. Romantically involved with Harry Pankhurst. A woman of compassion.
    PRINCESSE DE POLIGNAC - thirties/forties. American heiress. Rich, decadent and lover of Christabel.
    HARRY PANKHURST - twenties. Emmeline's often forgotten only son lost in a house of powerful women. A romantic.
  • Other Characters:
    SUPERINTENDENT WATSON
    INSPECTOR MATHER
    SIR EDWARD GREY
    CHAIRMAN
    JUDGE
    POLICEMAN
    PRISON WARDER
    PRISON DOCTOR
    OTHER MEMBERS OF THE WSPU
    MEN AND WOMEN