The Mill on the Floss

In 1860, George Eliot (real name Mary Ann Evans) published her novel The Mill on the Floss. It is the story of Maggie Tulliver, an impulsive and free-spirited girl utterly devoted to her brother Tom and desperate for the approval of her family. In 1994, Helen Edmundon’s adaptation of this incredible novel premiered at Shared Experience in London to rave reviews.

Along the river Floss, not far from St. Ogg’s, the Tulliver family lives and works at Dorlcote Mill. Young Maggie follows Tom whenever and wherever she can, while he flips between affection and judgment at her--when all she wants is his love. Throughout the story, spanning about ten years, Maggie searches for happiness: first, as a precocious child; then, as a restrained young teen; and finally, a passionate young woman. Helen Edmundson’s clever retelling of this classic novel uses three versions of Maggie, intertwining to reveal the complexity of her mind and heart, set against dramatic and experimental techniques that highlight the symbolism of a woman deemed out of her depth, a woman drowning in the rigid and moralistic society of Victorian England, a woman who is awash in love but with no one she can anchor herself to. With compelling characters and poetic storytelling, The Mill on the Floss brings Eliot’s Victorian-era novel into modern-day relevance.