A new women's theatre group take to the road telling the story of Belfast linen workers.
Sligo was the first stop for the new Belfast Charabanc Theatre Company. A production of the play 'Lay Up Your Ends', written by Martin Lynch tells the story of Belfast millworkers during the strike in 1911. The play will be at the Hawk's Well Theatre in Sligo for four nights.
The five actresses, both Protestant and Catholic, carried out their own research for the play.
The name Charabanc, incidentally, comes from the name of transport commonly used by millworkers at the turn of the century.
Charabanc Theatre Company is committed to work that reflects the lives of women in Belfast.
Brenda Winter explains how the theatre company came about. With not enough work available for actresses in Belfast, the five women decided to write a produce a play about Belfast women. Brenda Winter says that the play does not concentrate on the sectarian divide but focuses on the shameful exploitation of the women who worked in the linen industry. The play makes a political comment about their non-unionised status.
The whole project was born out of a lot of frustration and a lot of desperation. We all desperately wanted to work and we weren't getting an opportunity.
Rhoda McManus describes the production as, a gathering of women which has turned into a mini women's festival. The production coincides with an exhibition by two women artists, Kate McDonagh and Pauline Kinehan. In addition, the Sligo Women's Group is hosting a reception to welcome the Charabanc Theatre Company to Sligo.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 15 August 1983. The reporter is Tommie Gorman.
