Synopsis
Constables Miller and Harris are hired to deal with ‘the female morality question. They run smack into societal and family pressures, political corruption, ‘The Lord of the Bawdy Houses’, and the dangerously volatile Bella. Will the two Constables be able to save a young woman from a life on the streets? Will they find their way in a police department and a city not used to women authority figures? Will running after criminals while wearing floor-length skirts get easier? And Bella Sang With Us is set in 1912 in the area now known as Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside/Chinatown. Some things have changed, too many have not.
Premiere
And Bella Sang with Us premiered in a very early and different version entitled Kid Gloves, at the Firehall Arts Centre in Vancouver, BC on November 10, 2012. Alas, Kid Gloves was not ready to go up. Two years later a new draft of the play – And Bella Sang with Us – was published by Scirocco Drama. In 2016, And Bella, directed by Sarah Rodgers with Ian Harmon, played to full houses at The Cultch which hosted the Vancouver Fringe Festival. It was a ‘Pick of the Fringe’, went on to receive two Jessie Award nominations, and was chosen as one of the Vancouver Courier’s ‘Top 10’ by theatre critic, Jo Ledingham. And Bella was remounted at the Firehall Arts Centre in 2017.
Reviews
‘… Written by Vancouver writer Sally Stubbs, this production is extremely polished and a decided cut above the usual Fringe fare.’
Jo Ledingham, Vancouver Courier
‘It was a thrilling opening night for Sally Stubbs and her charming, witty, thoroughly engaging play about two women cops in 1912 Vancouver. Fighting both misogyny and ankle length skirts that frustrate their best efforts to serve and protect, Harris and Miller rarely falter in their determination to bring humanity into the justice system. … The play screams to be made into a TV series.’
Simon Johnston, novelist/playwright/former AD Gateway Theatre
‘Sally has written a play that takes on social issues like feminism, prejudice, racism, corruption, and, of course, sex and violence that are, unfortunately, just as relevant now as they were back in 1912. And she’s done this with a great deal of humour and compassion.’
Firehall Theatre
‘The script is nuanced, darkly funny, and action packed.’
Jacqueline Russel, Past Artistic Director, Urban Curvz, Calgary
