Pam Gems, perhaps the most prolific contemporary English-language woman playwright, was virtually unrecognized by London critics before her 1976 West End success, Dusa, Fish, Stas, and Vi . Described two years later by John Barber as a rarity who celebrates womanhood better than anyone else, and selected by John Walker as one of the British theater's top playwrights, Gems did not seriously turn to playwriting until after her fortieth birthday. She had earlier written three television scripts. Born in New Forest, Dorset, Gems had her first play produced when she was seven and classmates in Miss Collin's class in the New Forest school performed in it. The confluence of personal tragedy, her move to London, and her immersion in the feminist movement returned Gems to serious efforts at playwriting.

The daughter of working-class parents, Pam Price Gems was brought up in a female household. Both of her grandmothers had been...