About the Play:

Life Without Instruction is a full-length revenge comedy by Sally Clark. Set in Rome in 1612, the play tells the amazing life story of Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi, who was raped by her art teacher and dragged through the courts when her father sought justice. Life Without Instruction presents a woman's struggle for freedom, identity, and dignity.

Life Without Instruction is based on the true story and real trial of Artemisia Gentileschi, one of Renaissance Italy's greatest artists, and notably one of the very few female painters of the era to achieve renown. Artemisia, born in 1593, was a painter of great talent even as a child. When she was 18, her father, the late-Renaissance painter Orazio Gentileschi, takes the unusual step of having his daughter trained in the art of perspective under the instruction of his friend Agostino Tassi. Tassi, however, rapes Artemisia, and is taken to trial by both Artemisia and Orazio, but – as usual – the person really on trial in this rape case is the woman, who is politically humiliated and tortured. But this only strengthens Artemisia's determination to become an independent woman, artist and painter.

Life Without Instruction premiered in 1991 at the Jane Mallett Theatre by Theatre Plus Company in Toronto. While the play is rarely performed professionally, it is regularly performed in college theatre productions as a showcase of student talent.

Cast: 3 female, 5 male

What people say:

"Sally Clark's great talents as a playwright are her seemingly effortless ability to shift from light to dark and her finely tuned understanding of life's rich ambiguities." — Toronto Star

About the Playwright:

Sally Clark is a critically acclaimed Canadian playwright who was born in Vancouver, where she currently lives. She is best known for her frequently produced play Moo, and has been playwright-in-residence at Theatre Passe Muraille and the Shaw Festival. She is also an accomplished painter, director and filmmaker. Her plays have received a Chalmers Award, two Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations, and a Governor General's Award nomination.