By Sarah Walker
18 September 2025
A pioneering women’s theatre company based in Newcastle is now sharing its powerful award-winning productions with audiences around the world, thanks to a digital library from publishing giant Bloomsbury.
Open Clasp: Theatre for Social Change is a new collection now available on Drama Online, showcasing the work of Open Clasp, a feminist theatre company that co-creates plays with women who are often excluded from both theatre and society.
Rooted in lived experience and shaped through participatory arts practice, the collection offers powerful stories that spark personal, social, and political change.
Drama Online is an award-winning digital library from Bloomsbury, designed as a one-stop resource for theatre teaching, learning, and research.
It offers over 5,000 play texts, 800+ hours of video, 450 audio plays, 900 scholarly books, and major reference works, with exclusive content from Methuen Drama, The Arden Shakespeare, and renowned partners like the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, and Shakespeare’s Globe.
This curated collection spanning over 10 years of work features filmed performances that amplify the voices of women affected by the criminal justice system, gender-based violence, and austerity.
From the Houses of Parliament and prisons to theatres and community centres, these plays have been performed in spaces advocating for change, and now, they’re accessible to educators, students, and changemakers worldwide at the click of a button.
Highlights include:
- Key Change – New York Times Critics’ Pick, a raw, funny, and illuminating portrayal of women in prison.
- Rattle Snake – based on real-life stories of coercive control and survival.
- Us Too: Alisha’s Story – created with learning disabled women who have reported sexual assault.
- Mycelial, Sugar, Lasagna, and more; each piece a testament to resilience and solidarity
Catrina McHugh MBE, joint CEO, artistic director and writer at Open Clasp said she is thrilled that Open Clasp’s body of work is now available to millions of people with an interest in high quality theatre productions through Drama Online.
She said: “Over the past 26 years, I have witnessed the power built when communities of women gather in rooms, working creatively on their feet, pulling on their lived experience and leading as experts with Open Clasp as collaborators.
“Our mission is to change the world one play at a time and now we have a collection of our work available to millions across the globe.
“Drama Online is world class, as is Open Clasp.”
Access the collection here: https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/open-clasp-theatre-for-social-change
For more information on Open Clasp, visit https://openclasp.org.uk/
ENDS
Press release issued by SASS media Ltd on behalf of Open Clasp Theatre Company.
For more information, contact Sarah Walker on 07896 894538.
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