MARIA DUARTE is swept along by the cocky self-belief of a ping-pong hustler in a surprisingly violent drama
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Theatre review: Nothing to lose but their chains
LYNNE WALSH sees an inspirational production celebrating a landmark women's strike
Rousing: Bryony Purdue and Rowan Godel
[Mic Lowe]
STEVE ANDREW recommends a lively and often moving guide to once vibrant spaces that have been abandoned or swept away
GEOFF BOTTOMS appreciates the local touch brought to a production of Dickens’s perennial classic
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a production whose design and cartoonish acting overwhelms the close scrutiny of characters
SUSAN DARLINGTON enjoys the raucous familiarity of a traditional topsy-turvy pantomime
RON JACOBS introduces the latest novel by the best writer of US working-class fiction writing today
Rouse, Ye Women!
Touring
TELLING historical truths, driving a drama, involving the audience and providing a damn good night out — it’s a tall order.
But for Townsend Productions, it’s what they do. Their provenance, and their commitment to radical history, has fast become a hallmark. So it proves with this story of Mary Macarthur and the female chainmakers’ strike.
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With most of recorded history dominated by the voices of men, LYNNE WALSH encourages sisters to read the memoirs of women – and to write their own too