'My loves, what are we to do? We don't do as they want any more, and they hate it. What are we to do?'

Four determinedly 'liberated' - and very different - women ricochet around a tiny shared flat, while trying to pull together the shattered strands of their lives: Dusa is struggling to regain her children from their father, Fish is losing her lover to another woman, Stas is on the game to finance the course she wants to study at university, while Vi steadfastly refuses to eat....

A bitingly sardonic modern classic, widely regarded as an historic icon of early feminism, Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi was first seen at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1976 under the title Dead Fish, Michael Codron transferred the play to the West End under its new title where it enjoyed a huge success and established Pam Gems as a major new voice in British theatre.

Pam Gems (1925-2011) turned to playwriting after bringing up four children, and went on to enjoy a long association with the Royal Shakespeare Company, from Queen Christina (1977) and Piaf (1978) to Camille (1984), The Danton Affair (1986) and The Blue Angel (1991). Later plays included Stanley (premiered at the National Theatre, starring Antony Sher, which won both the Evening Standard Award and the Olivier Award for Best New Play, and also nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play) and Marlene (nominated for a Tony Award). She also was a prolific adapter of the works of many of the great European playwrights including Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (Hampstead Theatre), The Cherry Orchard (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield) Ibsen's The Lady from the Sea (Almeida Theatre) and Lorca's Yerma (Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester).