Sally Bayley, Arizona Smith and Georgina Hellier

Author Sally Bayley and artist Arizona Smith talk about Bayley’s lyrical coming-of-age memoir, No Boys Play Here, and about how visual archetypes as forms of visual and oral storytelling can be created from myth and literature. The event will include readings by actress Georgina Hellier.

No Boys Play Here tells the story of a young girl in search of her father and uncle and their lost histories. Adopting characters and guises from Shakespeare, the young protagonist escapes from her family home dressed as a boy and so begins to shift her perspective, imaginatively, from girl to boy: from her 14-year-old-self born in a seaside town in Sussex to Jessica dressed in breeches in The Merchant of Venice. The book explores what theatre and role-play can offer children and adults experiencing forms of social and economic entrapment.

Bayley has worked closely with Smith, whose visual work generates empowering images of male and female archetypes. They will share images included in No Boys Play Here and others.

This event lasts 75 minutes.