This is not a story about the Yorkshire Ripper.
It’s 1975 and Sharon just wants to marry Donny Osmond. Her mum, June, is working to keep girls like Helen off the street, and Fiona is desperate to get inside the Milgarth Police Station incident room.
Between the years of 1975 and 1980, the women of Leeds lived in fear. With no clue as to who was responsible for the sustained attacks and murders across the city, the authorities urged women to stay at home. From the fear and fury, a steadfast solidarity arose, birthing the Reclaim the Night movement and echoing down the generations to this day.
Charley Miles’s play There Are No Beginnings was premiered at Leeds Playhouse in October 2019, in a production featuring Julie Hesmondhalgh.
‘A heated play with a panoramic sense of empathy… surprisingly funny and full of fury… a raw, emotive depiction of a generation overshadowed by these murders’
— Guardian
‘Sensitively handled… Miles can write beautifully’
— The Stage
‘A quietly gripping two hours’
— Telegraph
‘Passionate and thought-provoking… Miles’ beautiful writing adds poetry to the passion’
— BritishTheatre.com
‘An impressively theatrical piece of work… powerful and important’
— Yorkshire Post
‘An unblinking and sensitive look at how male violence can mar the lives of a whole generation of women’
— Exeunt Magazine
