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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Patrick Barkham

Gaslit, shamed and swindled: the play about Eleanor Glanville, persecuted for her love of butterflies

Split image: left shows an orange and black patterned butterfly on grass; right shows Claire Jackson lying in a field examining something closely
Pulse-quickener … a Glanville fritillary; writer Claire Jackson hunts for silver-spotted skippers. Composite: Alamy / Phillip Nangle

‘There’s nothing wrong with having a hobby, or even what you might call in this case a hyperfocus,” psychiatrist Dr Godrick tells Eleanor Glanville in a claustrophobic therapy room.

Outside the Phoenix theatre in Hampshire, a summer heatwave is delivering perfect conditions for butterflies. Inside, a rather darker story is being rehearsed in air-conditioned gloom. Butterfly, a new play, shines a light on one woman’s passion for butterflies and how it is turned against her when she became trapped in an abusive relationship.

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