The Wife of Willesden was first presented by Kiln Theatre in association with Brent 2020, London Borough of Culture, on the occasion of the Brent 2020 pilgrimage and celebration

"In her stage-writing debut, celebrated novelist and essayist Zadie Smith brings to life a comedic and cutting twenty-first century translation of Geoffrey Chaucer's classic The Wife of Bath. The Wife of Willesden follows Alvita, a Jamaican-born British woman in her mid-50s, as she tells her life story to a band of strangers in a small pub on the Kilburn High Road. Wearing fake gold chains, dressed in knock-off designer clothes, and speaking in a mixture of London slang and patois, Alvita recalls her five marriages in outrageous, bawdy detail, rewrites her mistakes as triumphs, and shares her beliefs on femininity, sexuality, and misogyny with anyone willing to listen. A thoughtful reimagining of an unforgettable narrative of female sexual power, written with singular verve and wit, The Wife of Willesden shows why Zadie Smith is one of the sharpest and most versatile writers working today"--

Wife of Willesden -- General Lock-In -- Wife of Willesden's Prologue -- Wife of Willesden's Tale -- A Retraction -- From The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer -- Wife of Bath's Prologue -- Wife of Bath's Tale -- Chaucer's Retraction