In 18th-century England, the fear of killing an unborn child protected a pregnant female criminal from the death sentence. Instead of being hanged, she would be exiled to Australia. Such is the context for The Welkin, Lucy Kirkwood’s dark and funny play, which premiered in 2020. The year is 1759. A young woman in rural England attempts to escape a death sentence by claiming she is pregnant. So 12 ordinary women are gathered to determine whether she is lying. The American premiere of the courtroom drama casts Off Broadway newbies like Kitty Givens alongside well-known actors such as Sandra Oh. Kirkwood’s title is “an old English term for the vault of the sky,” wrote David Benedict in his review for Vulture, “and the scope of that word indicates the scale of her ambition.” —Jeanne Malle