 The Rights (and Wrongs) of Mary Wollstonecraft Story Synopsis “The Rights (And Wrongs) Of Mary Wollstonecraft,” is a new play by North Carolina based playwright, Doug Pendergrass, with Steve Vernon directing. Its debut performance will be February 5, 2009 at Wilmington, N.C. Thalian Studio Theater at Thalian Hall. The play focuses on the romantic entanglement of Mary Shelley’s parents: William Godwin, a proclaimed anarchist, and Mary Wollstonecraft, often viewed as the first feminist writer. The story begins on January 8, 1796; London, England, during an afternoon Tea at Mary Hays' house, when Mary Wollstonecraft is reintroduced to William Godwin. Wollstonecraft is the prominent author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, and future mother of Mary Shelley, (the author of Frankenstein). Shelley acts as narrator for this historic drama, (which is also peppered with comedy.) When Godwin and Wollstonecraft become lovers, the complications arise out of the catch-22 –like logic trap created by their own devices. Godwin, a 42-year-old celibate, is a popular philosopher-writer in his own right, who is known for published opinions arguing against the institution of marriage, stating flatly, that “marriage is folly; the worst of all monopolies.” Wollstonecraft is also on record as preferring “independence” to marriage. When the couple finds they are expecting, they have to decide whether or not they can socially survive sticking to their principles, and not marry. Can they practice what they preach? This heartfelt romance hits on dozens of universal themes, dilemmas and circumstances that we can all relate to, while presenting facinating insights into how much Western customs have changed.
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