Review: SHAKE THE CITY by Millie Gaston at Jermyn Street Theatre 12-18th July 2022

‘An important reminder of how far we’ve come, and how far we have left to go in the march for true equality’ ★★★★

The Jermyn Street Theatre’s programme describes the clothworker’s strike in Leeds as ‘forgotten’ and that seems a fair description: I now know that in 1970, textile workers in and around Leeds started an unofficial strike, demanding an extra shilling in pay. The strike grew, until 20,000 people, mostly women, became involved.

‘Shake the City’ presents a fast-moving celebration of the build up to the strike, following the lives of four women: Lori, Wendy, Margaret, and Heather. This group has set up their own Women’s Liberation Movement meetings after work, where they discuss their lives as women, their emerging awareness of women’s roles in society, and of course, their rights as workers.

Surrounding them at all times are men’s suits, hanging from a rail around the stage, reminding us of the restrictive male presence which tries to keep them in their place as they argue for fairer pay. The drab blacks and greys of the suits contrasts with the brighter costumes of the women, whose clothing and hair do’s create the late 1960s feel.

Millie Gaston’s writing also plays up to other 1960s/70s tropes: we see all four women dance energetically to soul music during scene breaks, with Wendy (Kitty Watson) singing live, evidence of her character’s desire to make it in show business, but also providing a fitting soundtrack to the women’s struggle. Heather (Emma Leah Golding) is the one who ‘makes it out’ of Leeds, getting herself a place in Oxford: separated from her home friends, she tells her story through monologue, emphasising her loneliness, but shedding light on the class prejudice faced by someone with a different accent to what’s expected in her college. Gaston successfully explores the different forms of oppression these women face, and their different escape routes.

It’s great to see these different forms of storytelling work together so well. The relationships between the characters are a little cliche perhaps: Wendy is concerned with her looks and a bit ditzy, Heather the academic placed in contrast to her. Margaret (Rachel Halliwell) is one step up in the factory hierarchy than the others and is juxtaposed with the feisty, energetic Lori (Stephanie Hutchinson), who initiates the strike. It might have been nice to see some more of the immediate action or consequences around the strike too. But each character was played convincingly, with a clear voice, purpose, and role and it’s powerful just to see Lori, who also comments on the everyday racism she faces, stand up silently on stage, embodying the power of the self.

This play reminds us of an important chapter in the fight for equal rights, a Leeds-based Made in Dagenham. The women discuss not only their work, but the dawning of a new decade, contraception, and their relationships with the men in their lives: boyfriends, husbands, fathers, and the little ways their status is undermined. Wendy has to be convinced that it is patronising and unfair for her boyfriend to be the one who buys the popcorn at the cinema because he is paid more than she is. These are women struggling to fight for recognition of themselves, their own bodies.

In the final scene, we see the women campaigning on the picket line, with placards held aloft. In a rousing coup, we in the audience are also handed signs to hold, bearing slogans demanding equality, recognition, fair pay. Given the amount of strikes, protests and marches we have seen already in summer 2022, this play suggests that 1970 was not so long ago: we have come a long way since then, but there is still a long way to go in the march towards true equality.

 Photography: Steve Gregson



‘Shake the City’

Written by Millie Gaston

Jermyn Street Theatre

12-18th July 2022

https://www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk/show/shake-the-city/

Directed by Amie Burns Walker.

Developed by Leeds Playhouse. 

Designs from Caitlin Mawhinney.

Starring Kitty Watson, Stephanie Hutchinson, Emma Leah Golding, and Rachael Halliwell

Reviewer bio:

Jonny Kemp just about manages to find time to write and paint when he's not being an English teacher at a central London 6th form. He completed a module in playwriting as part of his MA Modern and Contemporary Fiction at the University of Westminster, and was shortlisted for the WRaP 2020 playwriting competition from the London Playwrights Blog. He had a script in hand performance of a short play at The Hope Mill in Manchester in 2021. He loves pubs and theatres, so pub theatres are a dream come true.