THE FACTORY GIRLS. To 18 February.

London

THE FACTORY GIRLS
by Frank McGuinness

Arcola Theatre 27 Arcola Street E8 To 18 February 2006
Mon-Sat 8pm Mat Sat 3pm
Runs 2hr 40min One interval

TICKETS: 020 7503 1646
www.arcolatheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 20 January

A theatre formed from an ex-clothing factory, a play set in a shirt-factory. A production made to measure.
For the women working in the declining Donegal shirt-factory of Frank McGuinness’s 1982 debut, authority, be it management or their union, is male. Then, suddenly, enough’s more than enough as productivity’s pushed up while pay-rates go down. The 4 women in the Examining Room exchange shirt-sleeves for direct action, taking their young new-recruit with them.

At all ages, up to 60+ Una, they insist they’re factory girls. It’s a uniformity that works on the factory-floor but gets strained once they take-over management offices in protest. New circumstances test old loyalties, to family, church and to the sway of usual workbench mouthpiece Ellen.

Told they were defeated the day they entered employment, their search for a sense of significance holds the dramatic centre, more than their industrial action. The Occupation isn’t followed to its conclusion but the question: do we stay or do we go, thrust at them by the men then hammered-out between the women, is worked through with humour and keen argument to a conclusion where McGuinness finds more personal hope than economic or industrial logic would suggest.

Raz Shaw’s cast bring sharp individuality to the women (whose play this is), their characters quite static in act one, unfolding more rapidly afterwards. Maggie McCarthy’s tough leader faces compromises, Kate Binchy’s Una moves from dotty compliance to an equally sweet-mannered sense of self-worth, now using her smile as cover for devastating stiletto comments. Aislinn Mangan shows Rebecca consolidating her determination, even if it’s without a long-term plan, while Catherine Cusack’s nervy Vera steadily struggles to build resolve. And Jane Murphy takes young Rosemary from truculent teenager through the sickness of first alcohol to trust and hope in Rebecca.

Lizzie Clachan’s design leads us first through a corridor of shirts to sit on rickety chairs or industrial packaging before working the Fringe equivalent of a transformation scene, using the Arcola’s space to create a contrasting world for act 2.
The production creates sightline problems in act one (avoid side seats) and McGuinness’ assured first script isn’t really the documentary writing best-fitted to such staging, but in handling the script Shaw’s spot-on.

Una: Kate Binchy
Rohan: Ruairi Conaghan
Vera: Catherine Cusack
Bonner: Paul Lloyd
Rebecca: Aislinn Mangan
Ellen: Maggie McCarthy
Rosemary: Jane Murphy

Director: Raz Shaw
Designer: Lizzie Clachan
Lighting: David Holmes
Sound: WayneHarris
Composer: Alex Silverman
Assistant director: Cat Totty

2006-01-22 23:51:09