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/