Sistershow Revisited

Sistershow Revisited: Feminism in Bristol, 1973-1975

Collected by: Deborah M. Withers

2011

Sistershow Revisited uses the antics of a Bristol-based theatre group to tell the history of feminism in Bristol 1973-1975.

Based on the Heritage Lottery Funded exhibition of the same name, it contains colour photographs, archival material, original articles and commentary.

Review: ‘The book reproduces much of the exhibition content including vivd colour photos, personal testimonies, as well as many of the surviving archive items Withers collected including hand-written lyrics, drawings for flyers, letters, ‘cyclo-styled’ leaflets: Letraset, marks of correction fluid, crossings-out and annotations, bearing evidence to the technologies – or lack of them – that were available at the time.

Withers re-creates in as much detail as possible what survives of the texts and scenarios of each Sistershow, along with the working process that created it and the conflicts over class, parenting responsibilities or the lack of them, organisational methods, strong personalities that affected it, a familiar litany. As Withers writes, this ‘only underlines the group’s achievements more’. This is an inspiring and important account of vital era.’ Susan Croft from Unfinished Histories