“Never explain, never retract, never apologize, just get the thing done and let them howl.” — Nellie McClung
One of the most famous plays in Manitoba’s history was never written until more than a century after it was performed.
Nellie McClung and her peers in the Political Equality League became famous in 1914 after they staged a ‘mock Parliament’ to protest how the government of the day rebuffed their appeal to give women the right to vote.
After being told that nice women wouldn’t want to vote, McClung made national headlines with her portrayal of the condescending Premier Sir Rodmond Roblin in the play in which the roles were reversed; women were considering whether men should be allowed to vote. “A man’s place is on the farm,” she said according to accounts of the event.
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A re-enactment of the famous play is being performed Oct. 18 at the Prairie Theatre Exchange as a lead-up to next year’s centennial of Manitoba becoming the first province in Canada to grant voting rights to women.
“Let Them Howl” will include about 35 volunteer readers selected from Manitoba celebrities, entrepreneurs and notables asked to participate by the Nellie McClung Foundation, a Manitoba group raising awareness about this province’s famous leader and the suffragist movement.
The re-enactment of the play is a partnership between the Nellie McClung Foundation and Prairie Theatre Exchange (PTE).
Improv
But foundation members discovered the actual ‘mock Parliament’ play staged 100 years ago was never a written document.
“We first tried to find the play so we could present it, and found out there was never a copy of it written,” says Bette Mueller, a retired Manitou history teacher and member of the Nellie McClung Foundation.
They were able to secure a grant from the Winnipeg Foundation to hire PTE playwright Sharon Bajer to write it, Mueller said, adding she used excerpts from the Winnipeg Free Press and McClung’s own references to it in her autobiography.
After “Let Them Howl” is performed in Winnipeg this month on the eve of the 2015 federal election, the play will be made available to school teachers to use as a resource with their students.
A key goal of the Nellie McClung Foundation is to increase awareness among Manitobans of the role Nellie McClung and her peers played in achieving a critically important milestone in history, said Mueller.
“We hope to make more people aware of this group of women who worked so hard for the vote,” she said.
They also want to help more Manitobans understand that the means used to achieve it were quite different than that in Britain and the U.S.
Suffragists not suffragettes
“There the suffragettes were much more militant, and more likely to stop traffic and chain themselves to light posts,” she said. Nellie McClung and her peers took a different tact.
“Their manner was much more one of going out to make speeches and educate people through their humour while getting their point across,” she said.
“Let Them Howl” is “full of humour,” she added.
The timing of the play a day before the federal election is also ideal from the foundation’s perspective, as it is also about making Manitobans aware of how being able to vote is to exercise a right that was hard won a century ago.
The play will be performed at 7 p.m. on October 18 at the Prairie Theatre Exchange and is a fundraiser for the Nellie McClung Foundation.
More information about the performance, including how to purchase tickets ($60) is available on the Nellie McClung Foundation website.
Nominate a woman for a Nellie award
Do you know a woman who deserves recognition for her leadership?
As we prepare to celebrate 100 years since women in this province earned the right to vote, 20 awards will be presented to present-day women leaders contributing to social justice, promoting democracy and contributing to the arts.
The Nellies will be awarded in conjunction with next year’s Centennial Gala to be held on January 28, 2016 which is the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote and are intended to honour women whose endeavours model the spirit and advance the legacy of women like Nellie McClung.
Any woman who — or collective of women — whose work has helped advance the rights of women and girls is eligible for nomination.
Nominees must have lived in Manitoba a minimum of seven years and are a minimum of 18 years at the time of nomination.
Nominations can be submitted to winnipegfreepress.com/the-nellies/.
