"The Reluctant Emigre"

 "The Reluctant Emigre"  Historical drama for 10f + 2fjs by Tony Breeze  ISBN:  978-1-872758-27-5  £7.00 each Royalties £50 per peformance

The year is 1789.  After the First Fleet of male prisoners had been sent from England to the new colony in Australia it became obvious to the authorities that women were needed "to prevent gross irregularities." 

Sarah Whitlam is a naive young country-woman who fell in love with a soldier and ran away with him. When he was posted abroad she had trouble paying the rent and was accused by her landlady of stealing and pawning some metal fire cheeks.  She was innocent of the crime but after a miscarriage of justice was found guilty and now finds herself fastened in chains, being taken on board a merchant ship about to leave her native land, sentenced to seven years beyond the seas.

She has to decide whether to accept the label of "thief" or to try and prove her innocence.