James Haddrell reviews Strike! playing at the Southwark Playhouse

With striking workers hitting the headlines on a daily basis, from nurses and paramedics to Post Office and passport office staff, one South London theatre is tackling the story of one of Europe’s longest but least well-known strikes – the Dunnes Store Strike.

On July 19, 1984 in the Henry Street outlet of Dunnes (the Irish equivalent of Tesco) in Dublin, shop assistant Mary Manning refused to handle a grapefruit for a customer.

Six years later, that same shop assistant and a handful of colleagues met with Nelson Mandela when he was granted the Freedom of the City of Dublin.

The story of what happened in-between, and why, is an astonishing one – and one that is currently being staged at Southwark Playhouse in Tracy Ryan’s new play Strike!

Manning had been following a directive from her trade union, IDATU, to refuse to handle South African produce as a protest against South African apartheid policies.

Manning was suspended, along with shop steward Karen Gearon, who backed her – so 10 more IDATU members working in the shop went on strike.

That strike lasted for several years, during which time the strikers suffered huge hardship (at its outset, they were forced to live on £21 per week).

At the same time they met and became close to Nimrod Sejake, a South African in exile for his anti-apartheid activism, opening their eyes to the brutal realities of life in South Africa at the time.

It was not until 1987, when Ireland became the first Western European state to ban South African imports, that the strike finally came to an end.

Ryan’s play has been around for more than a decade, in what is an all too common situation for a writer in theatre.

Lots of readers had loved it, but no producer had picked it up. That is, until Ardent Theatre spotted it in 2015.

“They offered space and funding to work on the text through dramaturgical support, workshops and readings, which has been invaluable in developing the play to its current form,” said Ryan in an interview with Everything Theatre.

“It was envisaged the production may happen in 2020, but obviously, we all know what happened. Through Covid, Ardent and I continued to work on the play. Although I have been with the play for a long time, I am still incredibly moved and inspired by the action the strikers took and honoured to tell their story.”

The play’s director Kirsty Patrick Ward told Theatre Weekly: “The real life events of this strike are fascinating, and having researched them and been fortunate enough to speak with some of the strikers involved, I’m even more in awe of how Tracy has captured their stories and voices so stunningly. So often in drama we focus solely on one protagonist’s struggle, but Tracy’s play explores and celebrates just what can be achieved when people come together to act.  It’s bold, it’s epic, it takes you on a journey that truly beggars belief and is sure to inspire.”

Website:  https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/strike/

 

Pictures: The cast of Strike! at Southwark Playhouse. Picture: Mark Douet