In October 1942, Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the President, takes a dangerous trip to wartime London, to visit US troops, and see how the British, most importantly the women, are coping.
In her last days, as the Cuban Missile Crisis pushes the world to the brink of final catastrophe, Eleanor relives her journey, from bomb-damaged Buckingham Palace to midnight factories, but also recalls her life, from unhappy child, to unconventional wife, to becoming, in President Truman’s words ‘First Lady of the World’.
Alison Skilbeck’s critically acclaimed one-woman show reveals the public and private life of one of the most extraordinary women of the 20th Century, from her daring trip to wartime Britain to her unconventional partnership with President Roosevelt. Granted special permission to use Eleanor Roosevelt’s writings, this is the story of a passionate humanitarian, a woman beset by deep personal insecurities and tragedy, but one who never lost her passionate belief in the strength of the human spirit.
“…she gives us a magnificent, intellectually aware, passionate campaigner…” ***** Irish Sunday independent “Phenomenal… You’d be hard-pressed to see better control in an actor” ***** Broadway Baby
“Alison Skilbeck’s one woman show about Eleanor Roosevelt is a tour de force” ***** British Theatre Guide