The Devil's gateway

Sarah Daniels

A flat in Bethnal Green, and the world looms large over the lives of Betty and her neighbours. If not Social Services, then it's Social Security; if not unemployment, then it's the bomb. Betty and her friend Enid, who is trapped in an abusive marriage, are mirrored across town by Enid's daughter Linda and her lover Fiona, while Betty's daughter Carol tries and fails to duck in and around the whims of her bullying husband. And all the while on Greenham Common, women are taking action. Against the bomb; and against the patriarchal system that would drop it. 'The Devil's Gateway' was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, Upstairs, London, in 1983.