The Welkin

1759. Rural Suffolk. Haley's Comet is flying through the sky. A jury of matrons who need to ascertain if a girl is pregnant. A girl. A murderer. If she is pregnant, she lives. If not, she hangs. Can they come to a decision?

The Welkin means the sky. Under the sky is the world. And this world is populated by a jury of matrons. They are trying to work out if a girl is pregnant because this girl has been involved in the most brutal murder. If she is pregnant, she will not hang. The women are shut in a room until they come to a decision. Life. Death. Everything.

Lucy Kirkwood's play was first performed at the National Theatre and instantly became a classic. An intricately woven web of social and physical and familial relationships that explodes with horror in front of our eyes.