Partnership 2023

Kate Rolling, is an independent professional woman happily running a successful business with no interest in marriage. That is, until she receives an offer from her chief competitor proposing a merger… and matrimony.

Partnership is a story of yearning for more, but Kate Rolling and the women she works with in her small but very smart shop are ambitious to sell more, to earn more, to grow. They are not romantics seeking adventure, they are capitalists seeking expansion. When George Pillatt, owner of the biggest shop in Brighton, proposes a merger on favorable terms—including matrimony—Kate sees an irresistible business opportunity. “Oh, don't worry about me,” Kate assures her friends, “I never expected anything great in the way of love.”

Partnership offers a refreshing take on the importance of work-life balance. “One of the very few intelligent and, therefore, really interesting plays of the moment is Partnership at the Court, by Miss Elizabeth Baker, author of the memorable Chains. It is the eternal battle of the spirit over the material: … It grips you precisely because it is not a fairy tale,” wrote The Stage in 1917.