Pam Gems
Pam Gems was a British playwright and novelist recognized for her significant contributions to theater, particularly focusing on women's experiences and societal issues. She made her professional debut in 1972 with the play *Betty's Wonderful Christmas*, produced at the Cockpit Theatre in London. Over her career, Gems authored thirty-two plays and two novels, often exploring themes of feminism without embracing a militant stance. She highlighted the complexities of women's relationships with men and the importance of solidarity among women, as exemplified in her acclaimed play *Dusa, Fish, Stas, and Vi*, which resonated deeply with audiences.
Gems's works include adaptations of classic plays and original pieces, with notable productions like *Queen Christina*, depicting a 17th-century Swedish monarch, and *Piaf*, chronicling the life of the iconic French singer Edith Piaf. Despite entering the theatre scene later in life, having spent the earlier years of her adulthood raising a family, Gems's voice became a vital part of contemporary theatre, reflecting both personal and broader social narratives. Her contributions have left a lasting impact on the landscape of British drama.
Pam Gems
Playwright
- Born: August 1, 1925
- Birthplace: Bransgrove, Hampshire, England
- Died: May 13, 2011
Biography
Pam Gems was forty-six years old when her first play, Betty’s Wonderful Christmas (1972), was produced in London at the Cockpit Theatre. By the end of the twentieth century, Gems had written thirty-two plays and two novels. Although many of Gems’s plays deal with feminism and the unique problems women face in society, she is not a militant feminist. She deplores the condemnation of men that is the earmark of some feminist groups. She acknowledges that for all of the oppression many women suffer, they need men, and their children benefit from having two parents.
Gems began her writing career relatively late in life because she had married Keith Gems in 1949, a few months after her graduation with first class honors from Manchester University. Her central occupation for the next two decades was to manage her household and raise her four children. Gems, the daughter of Jim and Elsie Mabel Annetts Price, held a variety of menial jobs before and during the early years of her marriage.
Gems’s entry into theater began when she became associated with the Almost Free Theatre, a fringe theater movement of a feminist collective whose members wrote and produced plays. This group produced three of her early plays, while another four plays were produced by various theater companies in London. Guinevere and Dusa, Fish, Stas, and Vi were presented in Edinburgh, Scotland, the latter at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival. Dusa, Fish, Stas, and Vi, the story of four women under great economic pressure and suffering from abusive relationships with men, was brought to London immediately and enjoyed a long, highly successful run there. The play’s message, that there is strength in solidarity among women, struck a responsive chord in London audiences.
The Royal Shakespeare Company produced her next play, Queen Christina, a complex presentation with a cast of thirty-two about the seventeenth century Swedish queen who was raised as a boy so that she would be prepared to lead her country. In Piaf, a two-act play produced in 1979, Gems focuses on the later life of Edith Piaf, the famed Parisian chanteuse, who was born and raised in a brothel but went on to become one of the world’s most acclaimed cabaret singers. Gems chronicles Piaf’s rise to stardom, physical deterioration, and premature death. Gems also wrote adaptations of plays by Anton Chekhov, Henrik Ibsen, and Stanislawa Przybyszewska. Gems’s two novels, Mrs. Frampton, and its sequel, Bon Voyage, Mrs. Frampton, appeared in 1989 and 1990, respectively, but Gems’s most notable literary strength was in drama rather than in long fiction.