- 5. Women in Theatre - A Very British Patriarchy
Go to a typical UK theatre show, and for every 10 people in the audience, seven will be women. This isn't new. Surveys in the 1980s showed that at least half of theatre audiences were women at that time. But inside the theatre industry, women faced a glass ceiling made of stone.
"One of the key stereotypes about women directors was that women were okay on the small scale. But large scale plays like Pravda, that sort of meaty work couldn't be done by women."
Much like today, the most important and prestigious jobs in theatre were held by not by women, but by men.
"Somebody on the board said there are too many ladies around here and not enough meat. It wasn't a pleasant environment to work in."
And for women writers, producers, directors and actors, pursuing a theatre career meant a constant fight against deeply entrenched sexist prejudice and stereotyping.
"Their stance was 'we employ the best'. And when you try to examine what 'the best' was, it was them. So it was a circular argument."
Director Sue Dunderdale hosts this exploration of the challenges faced by women in theatre with historian and dramaturg Dr. Susan Croft and producer Gill Lloyd MBE.
Introduced by Ardent Theatre Company Creative Director Andrew Muir.
In this Episode:
1:16 - Running an all-women theatre organisation
4:26 - Key practitioners and venues
7:27 - Dealing with entrenched sexism
8:30 - The Standing Conference of Women Theatre Directors and Administrators
13:22 - Intersection with anti-apartheid and the miners' strike
19:11 - The lack of women in leadership positions
28:00 - Increasing visibility of women in theatre by the end of the 80s
Activism in the 80s is a Creative Kin production for Ardent Theatre Company.
Executive Producer & Producer: Jason Caffrey
Production music: Ellie Parker
Mixing and Mastering: Adam Double
This production has been supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players.
Links:
https://www.ardenttheatre.co.uk/strike-about
https://www.creativekin.co.uk/
https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/
https://www.unfinishedhistories.com/about/who-we-are/susan-croft/
https://www.unfinishedhistories.com/
http://www.unlimitedglobalalchemy.com/gill-lloyd
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-caffrey/
https://www.ardenttheatre.co.uk/andrew-muir
http://www.adamdouble.com/about
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellie-parker-9ba9aa195/
Remember to share, subscribe and leave a five-star review!S1E5 - 36m - Dec 11, 2023 - 6. Tracy Ryan's Strike! - The Play
One day in 2008, a radio interview grabbed the attention of playwright Tracy Ryan. Irish Department store owner Ben Dunne was trying to apologise to a former employee. It wasn't going well.
"So I was kind of like, What's this about? So I just started googling and looking around and then started to read about the strike and I was like, wow."
That employee, Mary Manning, had spent more than two and a half years on strike at Dunnes.
And Tracy had stumbled on to the story of how a small group of shop workers defied the Irish establishment.
Her play Strike was born.
"You've got to tell the story. Tell the story with heart and truth and conviction and respect for what they did."
Fast forward to 2023. With Ardent Theatre Company, Tracy brings strike to the London stage with Kirsty Patrick Ward directing.
"What we wanted to do was show police brutality on a much wider scale. That this actually can be happening is happening all over the world in different context."
Explore the long journey from that first spark of an idea - to opening night at Southwark Playhouse.
Hosted by Ardent Theatre Company Creative Director Andrew Muir.
In this Episode:
1:43 - Tracy Ryan discovers the Dunnes Stores strike story
3:55 - Meeting the strikers
6:58 - Director Kirsty Patrick Ward gets hooked on the script
8:45 - Early stagings of the play rekindle interest in the strikers' story
12:07 - Kirsty Patrick Ward starts working on the 2023 production
16:09 - Edits and rewrites tighten the pacing
23:15 - Shaping characters and bringing them to life
25:40 - The show goes on stage - with the strikers in the audience
29:02 The show's over. How to the writer and director feel?
Activism in the 80s is a Creative Kin production for Ardent Theatre Company.
Executive Producer & Producer: Jason Caffrey
Production music: Ellie Parker
Mixing and Mastering: Adam Double
This production has been supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players.
Links:
https://www.ardenttheatre.co.uk/strike-about
https://www.creativekin.co.uk/
https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/
https://www.ardenttheatre.co.uk/tracy-ryan
https://theagency.co.uk/the-clients/kirsty-patrick-ward/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-caffrey/
https://www.ardenttheatre.co.uk/andrew-muir
http://www.adamdouble.com/about
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellie-parker-9ba9aa195/
Remember to share, subscribe and leave a five-star review!S1E6 - 32m - Dec 11, 2023 - 4. Free Nelson Mandela! - The British Anti-Apartheid Movement
In 1980s Britain, the anti-apartheid movement drew nationwide support. Its mission was to end South Africa's racist apartheid system. And as TV reports from that country showed increasing violence, support for anti-apartheid grew.
"With the media coverage. We could look at, oh, my goodness, this system is actually attacking children. It's shooting children".
The growth in support was a welcome shift for veteran campaigners such as Christabel Gurney, Nadia Joseph and Lela Kogbara.
"There was a huge spread of people who were involved in other issues like the miners strike, who also started supporting the anti-apartheid movement".
From simple boycotts to huge rallies, the Anti-Apartheid Movement grew in strength throughout the 80s.
"The boycott was very important because it was something everybody could do".
As activists and campaigners came together under the Anti-Apartheid banner, pressure grew on governments and businesses to withdraw support for the government in South Africa.
And at the end of the decade, when South Africa's iconic opposition leader Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years as a political prisoner, the Anti-Apartheid Movement celebrated a historic victory.
"I know that from the bottom of my heart, because of the anti-apartheid movement, that knowledge changes how I behave and what I aspire to do. That knowledge that change is possible".
Introduced by Ardent Theatre Company Creative Director Andrew Muir.
In this Episode:
1:08 - Becoming activated and joining the Anti-Apartheid Movement
1:13 - Success of co-ordinated efforts at national, regional and local levels
1:15 - The importance of the boycott and pressure on big business
1:19 - Campaigning in an analogue age - the power of turning up
1:25 - Solidarity and lasting camaraderies among activists
1:30 - Nelson Mandela is freed - a victory for anti-apartheid campaigners
Activism in the 80s is a Creative Kin production for Ardent Theatre Company.
Executive Producer & Producer: Jason Caffrey
Production music: Ellie Parker
Mixing and Mastering: Adam Double
This production has been supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players.
Links:
https://www.ardenttheatre.co.uk/strike-about
https://www.creativekin.co.uk/
Activism in the 80s Creative Kin mini-site
https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christabel_Gurney
https://www.alumni.london.ac.uk/holden-lecture-2022-nadia-joseph-biography
https://www.socialfinance.org.uk/who-we-are/people/lela-kogbara
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-caffrey/
https://www.ardenttheatre.co.uk/andrew-muir
http://www.adamdouble.com/about
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellie-parker-9ba9aa195/
Remember to share, subscribe and leave a five-star review!S1E4 - 33m - Dec 11, 2023 - 2. Life under Apartheid in South Africa - The Harsh Reality
1980s South Africa was a nation in the grip of Apartheid - a regime as brutal as it was absurd. Every person was assigned a racial category: White, Indian, Coloured or Native. One way to determine this was the 'pencil test'.
A pencil is pushed into your hair. If it falls out, you're White. If not, you're heading for a different category.
And because Apartheid law prohibited people from different categories from living the same area, you could be torn from your family, your friends, your community - all on the basis of how easily a pencil falls from your hair.
"On the streets it was very volatile. I saw a lot of people shot for doing nothing, basically being provoked by the security forces."
Journalist Thapelo Moloantoa and Historian Dr Wayne Dooling both grew up in Apartheid South Africa.
They experienced first hand the violence and humiliations meted out by the Apartheid government.
And witnessed the resistance and ultimate triumph that saw iconic leader Nelson Mandela released after decades as a political prisoner, and the end of the Apartheid regime.
"It doesn't take a genius to work out that the best beaches were not available to black people. One had one's experiences of being forcibly removed from beaches and picnic places."
Artist and activist Zita Holbourne hosts this conversation, offering a riveting window life under Apartheid when the pencil didn't fall out.
Introduced by Ardent Theatre Company Creative Director Andrew Muir.
In this Episode:
1:28 - Education disrupted by the Group Areas Act
4:18 - Attending a historically white university as a non-white student
7:42 - The State of Emergency and violence in the Townships
11:00 - Resisting the Apartheid regime
15:39 - Interactions with people assigned different racial categories
18:01 - Opportunities to enjoy sports and leisure
23:58 - Approaching the '90s and the end of Apartheid
Activism in the 80s is a Creative Kin production for Ardent Theatre Company.
Executive Producer & Producer: Jason Caffrey
Production music: Ellie Parker
Mixing and Mastering: Adam Double
This production has been supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players.
Links:
https://www.ardenttheatre.co.uk/
https://www.creativekin.co.uk/
https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/
https://www.soas.ac.uk/about/wayne-dooling
https://www.thesouthafrican.com/author/thapelo/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-caffrey/
https://www.ardenttheatre.co.uk/andrew-muir
http://www.adamdouble.com/about
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellie-parker-9ba9aa195/
Remember to share, subscribe and leave a five-star review!S1E2 - 29m - Dec 11, 2023 - 3. Under Attack - The war on Trade Unions
On a June morning in 1984, one of the most violent episodes in British industrial relations unfolded. 5000 striking miners gathered at the Orgeave Coke processing plant in South Yorkshire. They'd face an assault by some 6000 police.
"Thatcher and her cronies decided to try and smash the trade union movement and they organised set pieces in order to do that."
As police and picketers clashed. John Hendy, now Lord Hendy KC was a legal rep for the National Union of Miners.
Len McCluskey, later head of Unite the Union, was a full time official.
"The miners have a special place in the heart of ordinary working people. And once they were defeated, it was really, really bleak."
In this episode, Justice for Grenfell co-founder Yvette Williams explores how the 80s changed the face of British trade unions.
Introduced by Ardent Theatre Company Creative Director Andrew Muir.
In this Episode:
1:35 - The Dunnes Store strike as viewed from the UK
5:47 - The unions fail to properly resist the attacks against them
9:51 - Company closures and the tactics of resistance
13:10 - The Conservatives learn from their defeats of the 1970s
14:03 - How the Unions intersected with other movements
16:15 - The international face of British trade unions
19:53 - Restrictions imposed on unions and their legacy today
26:36 - An alternative vision of labour laws
29:36 - The power of working class solidarity
Activism in the 80s is a Creative Kin production for Ardent Theatre Company.
Executive Producer & Producer: Jason Caffrey
Production music: Ellie Parker
Mixing and Mastering: Adam Double
This production has been supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Links:
https://www.ardenttheatre.co.uk/strike-about
https://www.creativekin.co.uk/
https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Len_McCluskey
https://www.ier.org.uk/blog-author/john-hendy-qc/
https://www.ier.org.uk/blog-author/yvette-williams-mbe/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Orgreave
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-caffrey/
https://www.ardenttheatre.co.uk/andrew-muir
http://www.adamdouble.com/about
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellie-parker-9ba9aa195/
Remember to share, subscribe and leave a five-star review!S1E3 - 35m - Dec 11, 2023 - 1. The Dunnes Stores Strike
Summer 1984. Dublin. A women approaches the checkout at Dunnes, holding two grapefruit. The 21-year old at the till apologises. The fruit is from Apartheid South Africa. She won't ring them up. The Dunnes Store Strike is about to begin.
"We weren't looking for money. We weren't looking for new uniform. It was a discussion to be had... around the sale of this product".
In the mid-1980s, Mary Manning and Vonnie Monroe worked at Dunnes, a well-known Irish department store.
In 1984 they went on strike to defend their right not to sell goods from apartheid South Africa.
What began as a local dispute would become an epic struggle over a fundamental human right equality before the law - regardless of the colour of your skin.
"We had the church talking against us... the priests in Mass used to stand up and say, 'go into Dunnes'".
Their journey would ultimately see them push Ireland to become the first Western nation to ban apartheid imports.
But first, they'd be assaulted by colleagues condemned by the church and even branded terrorists.
"As time has gone on, it was getting more difficult because I couldn't pay my mortgage".
In this episode of Activism in the 80s, Mary Manning and Vonnie Monroe recall how a simple protest saw them strike for almost three years, and play a pivotal role in the international struggle against Apartheid.
Hosted by Ardent Theatre Company Creative Director Andrew Muir.
In this Episode:
1:46 - Living and working in Dublin in the 1980s
4:58 - The Background: Union policy on South Africa, and bullying at Dunnes
5:46 - How it began - refusing to checkout South African grapefruit
10:14 - Picketing Dunnes with placards
11:45 - Vonnie Monroe struggles to pay her mortgage with strike pay
13:41 - South African exile Nimrod Sejake joins the picket
19:42 - Abuse and violence against the strikers
23:25 - Meeting Archbishop Desmond Tutu
25:51 - Flying to Apartheid South Africa - and being met by armed soldiers
33:18 - Was the strike worth the sacrifice?
Activism in the 80s is a Creative Kin production for Ardent Theatre Company.
Executive Producer & Producer: Jason Caffrey
Production music: Ellie Parker
Mixing and Mastering: Adam Double
This production has been supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Links:
https://www.ardenttheatre.co.uk/strike-about
https://www.creativekin.co.uk/
https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunnes_Stores_strike
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Striking-Back-Untold-Anti-Apartheid-Striker/dp/1848893248
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod_Sejake
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-caffrey/
https://www.ardenttheatre.co.uk/andrew-muir
http://www.adamdouble.com/about
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellie-parker-9ba9aa195/
Remember to share, subscribe and leave a five-star review!S1E1 - 36m - Dec 11, 2023 - Preview - An Era that Shaped our World
Welcome to Activism in the 80s, a riveting journey through the political and cultural forces that defined the 1980s - and continue to influence our lives today.
Creative Director of Ardent Theatre, Andrew Muir, invites you to join this compelling exploration of a pivotal decade in history.
In the 1980s, the world witnessed seismic shifts and profound moments that shaped our present.
From the fall of the Berlin Wall to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the South African struggle against apartheid, and the iron-fisted governance of Britain's first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher – the '80s were a time of conflict, resistance, triumph, and failure.
Activism in the 80s is your gateway to an era that redefined societies, challenged norms, and inspired activism.
Meet the unsung heroes who fought against apartheid, facing brutality and injustice at every turn.
Delve into the struggles and defeats faced by British trade unions as they resisted the policies of Thatcher and her allies - and uncover the enduring impact on the lives of working people.
And unveil the untold stories of the Dublin shop workers who walked out of Dunnes Stores. Their strike defied the Irish establishment, and inspired a remarkable stage production.
Activism in the 80s is a must-listen for anyone interested in the intersection of culture and politics in the 1980s, and how our lives today were shaped by the momentous forces of that time.
We'll share interviews with key figures from the era, including
- Len McCluskey
- Nadia Joseph
- Mary Manning
- Yvette Williams MBE
- Lord John Hendy KC
- Tracy Ryan
- Zita Holbourne
- Lela Kogbara
- Sue Dunderdale
- Christabel Gurney OBE
- Thapelo Moloantoa
- Vonnie Monroe
- Kirsty Patrick Ward
- Dr Susan Croft
- Dr Wayne Dooling
- Gill Lloyd MBE
If you have a passion for theatre, politics, or just a curious mind, Activism in the 80s is your opportunity to unearth the events that continue to echo through our world.
Journey into a decade like no other - a decade that laid the foundation for the world we know today.
Subscribe now to Activism in the 80s and dive into the tumultuous history of the 1980s.
Introduced by Ardent Theatre Company Creative Director Andrew Muir.
Activism in the 80s is a Creative Kin production for Ardent Theatre Company.
Executive Producer & Producer: Jason Caffrey
Production music: Ellie Parker
Mixing and Mastering: Adam Double
This production has been supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players.
Links:
https://www.ardenttheatre.co.uk/strike-about
https://www.creativekin.co.uk/
https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-caffrey/
https://www.ardenttheatre.co.uk/andrew-muir
http://www.adamdouble.com/about
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellie-parker-9ba9aa195/
Remember to share, subscribe and leave a five-star review!S1 - 2m - Oct 31, 2023
