Feminist icon still making waves two centuries on

The playwright behind a musical about Mary Wollstonecraft has said more people are taking inspiration from the feminist icon, two centuries after her death.

Maureen Lennon wrote Mary and the Hyenas in tribute to the literary pioneer, who is known for her trailblazing work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, published in 1792.

The musical will be performed at Wilton's Music Hall in London from 18 March, after debuting at Hull Truck Theatre.

Ms Lennon, from Hull, said: "It's not until around now that we're rediscovering and remembering what a huge legacy she has."

She added: "Of course, in feminism people have always championed her and she's provided an inspiration to so many, but only in the last few years is she starting to be as widely known as we would expect."

Wollstonecraft was born in 1759 and raised in the East Yorkshire town of Beverley.

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman argued women were not naturally inferior to men, but only appeared to be because they did not have the same access to education.

Wollstonecraft went on to spend time in Paris during the French Revolution. She died in 1797, aged 38, just days after the birth of her second daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, who would go on to write Frankenstein.

Ms Lennon said there were parallels between Wollstonecraft's time and the modern era.

Songs in her musical call out how women are treated in love and the pressure to be independent and perfect.

Speaking about feminism in the modern day, Ms Lennon said there was still a notion of women "having to be polite and compliant" in society.

"I think we can all identify with that feeling of being 'too much' for the world, particularly if you're a woman.

"Mary really paves the way there about not apologising for that and that's something that I've really tried to hold on to when you're searching for bravery," she said.

Ms Lennon also said she believed there was a "huge issue" within the playwrighting industry, with women "still not being given the same opportunities" as men.

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