Fair Em, The Miller's Daughter of Manchester

November 6-9, 2025 at MadLab Theatre (227 N 3rd St, Columbus, OH 43215)

Fair Em, The Miller's Daughter of Manchester

Secret identities, unwanted suitors, the Norman Conquest, grain to mill – what’s a Northern lass in love to do? This is the plot of Fair Em, the Miller’s Daughter of Manchester, an anonymous romantic comedy first performed in London, c.1590. The tenuous but no less tantalizing possibility of Shakespearean authorship has dominated what little critical and editorial attention Fair Em has received. Setting aside the distraction of the play’s authorship, ample material commends it as a dynamic work of drama resonating with modern audiences (e.g., a witty and sizeable female title role) and contemporary critical concerns (e.g., gender, class, and autonomy; the body and identity; region and nation; history and myth; national security and good government).