Modern Perspectives Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own

A new theatrical production titled La Sœur de Shakespeare is examining the historical erasure of female artists and intellectuals, using the framework of feminist literary theory to highlight creators who have been rendered invisible by history.

The project is a collaborative effort by Juliette Marie, Inès Amoura, and Solenn Goix. According to reporting from Coups d’Œil, the production serves as a tribute to women whose contributions to art and thought were either overlooked, suppressed, or attributed to their male contemporaries.

Theoretical Foundations

The production draws its primary inspiration from A Room of One’s Own, the 1929 essay by Virginia Woolf. In this work, Woolf explores the material and social requirements for female creativity, famously arguing that a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.

Central to the play is Woolf’s thought experiment regarding a hypothetical sister of William Shakespeare. Woolf imagined a woman with the same genius and appetite for learning as Shakespeare, but who, due to the gender constraints of the era, would have been denied an education and the opportunity to pursue her craft. In Woolf’s narrative, this fictional sister would have faced social ridicule and personal tragedy, ultimately remaining unknown to history despite her talent.

Juliette Marie, Inès Amoura, and Solenn Goix utilize this metaphor to explore the broader phenomenon of the invisibilisation of women. The play examines how systemic barriers—ranging from lack of educational access to the legal inability to own property or publish work—created a void where the achievements of countless women disappeared.

Production and Venues

The production has been associated with several prominent cultural spaces in France. It has been presented at the Théâtre La Luna in Avignon, specifically as part of the Festival Off Avignon, the fringe component of the city’s renowned international theater festival.

the work has been staged at Studio Hébertot in Paris. This venue is frequently used for contemporary and experimental performances, providing a space for the production’s exploration of feminist themes and its homage to the forgotten creators of the past.

By blending theatrical performance with the intellectual rigor of Woolf’s essays, the creators aim to move beyond a simple historical retelling. The production seeks to provoke a dialogue about who is remembered in the canon of Western art and the mechanisms that determine which voices are preserved and which are silenced.

The work of Marie, Amoura, and Goix positions the sister of Shakespeare not merely as a fictional character, but as a representative figure for all women whose creative potential was stifled by the social structures of their time.