Review: On The Line (Questors Theatre)

Review by Molly Gulvin

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The Ford sewing machinists strikes of 1968 have been well-documented: from books to films to musicals, the fight led to the Equal Pay Act (passed in 1970 and enforced in 1975), and success for women’s pay nationally. There is a clear question to ask: what happened next? On The Line, in its debut at the Questors Theatre, helps to answer that question, telling the story of the Trico women who went on strike for equal pay six years after the Act was passed. A local story to the Ealing theatre, On The Line demonstrates the power of telling stories set close to home, even if sailing isn’t entirely smooth as they are told.

On The Line focuses on the female workers at Trico, a windshield wiper manufacturer who previously had a manufacturing plant in Brentford. When five men move from the night shift to the day shift, the women are horrified to learn that despite the Equal Pay Act, they are still paid £6.50 a week more. The women decide to strike, inspired by other industrial action (like the Ford strikes) which had been resolved in a matter of weeks. However, this particular injustice takes 21 weeks to resolve, with leaders at the company becoming increasingly desperate to find a solution that doesn’t include levelling pay, and trade unions across the country supporting the women from up close and afar. In October 1976, Trico conceded to the women’s demands, placing the strikes in history as one of the first major equal pay strikes after the Equal Pay Act was passed. Fifty years later, this production covers the full timeline of the walkout, focusing on the determination of the strikers to fight for justice, even when they were struggling personally with the impact of the lack of pay.

Caitlyn Vary and Becky Hartnup have written a play that values its historical roots whilst ensuring that the overall product is still an entertaining piece of theatre. There has been a clear focus placed on making the story accessible, focusing on the human impacts that the strike had. Vary and Hartnup effectively create an ensemble of characters that are easy to root for, and clearly oppose the villains of the story to create a classic “David vs Goliath” narrative. However, not every character can be viewed in such a one-dimensional lens, like Ray, the husband of striking worker Valerie who is working within Trico to ensure operations keep running during the strike. From start to finish, the writing flows and creates an engaging piece - aside from a few moments of audience participation that unfortunately fell flat within the small Questors Theatre space.

Hartnup also directs this production, alongside Vary who serves as co-director. Their direction is clean and smooth throughout, with a clear creative vision being demonstrated. There is no doubt that the writer-director combination has allowed Hartnup to truly understand the intention behind the play, and the communication of this vision has clearly been effective and is easily seen in the final result. Despite the fast-moving pace of the play, which is necessary to include five months’ worth of action within just a few hours, emotional beats are still given the necessary time to resonate within the audience, creating a final production that truly emphasises the social impacts of the strike and the people that it affected.

On The Line is certainly a demanding work, with each and every role demanding some form of emotional charge behind it. However, the extent to which this is achieved varies quite dramatically. It is clear that each performer is striving to create this emotional energy, but unfortunately they are often undermined by lapses in memory. From restarting lines to a few occasions where actors were obviously improvising around the written dialogue (or required prompting from other onstage cast), alongside a scene change that had props moving to the wrong places, meaning they had to be moved again, the awkward beats of unscripted silence do detract from the story somewhat. However, this cannot be said for every performer: Nick Thomas and Emily Sanctuary provide compelling performances as Ray and Valerie, with both performers creating characters that have nuance and moral ambiguity when required. Similarly, Isabelle Barbuk has a wonderful turn as Doll, the “leader” of the strike who travels around the country appealing for support from the trade unions, whilst caring for her ageing mother. Barbuk delivers every line with conviction and emotion, truly allowing the passion of the work to shine.

The creative design for this production is quite remarkable, particularly considering that all participants are volunteers. Gareth Williams’ set design deserves particular credit: his designs are flexible and allow for a variety of scenes to be depicted in the small space. He makes use of some inventive designs, including a set of folding boards affixed to the wall to create easily changeable designs, and even a fireman’s pole which somehow doesn’t feel out-of-place in the set. Jane Higginson’s costume designs are symbolic of the period and feel perfectly suitable to the setting, particularly the women’s costumes, which rarely change throughout the course of the play; this may be for reasons outside of the production’s control but suitably demonstrates the lack of expendable income for the striking workers. Andrew Whadcoat and Russell Fleet take charge of lighting and sound design respectively, and both enhance the atmosphere effectively. Fleet’s sound design certainly helps to ground the 1970s setting, with radio-style voiceovers suitably covering scene changes.

At the end of a play that feels historical in so many ways, the cast leave us with a sobering thought: in just a week’s time (20th November) we reach Equal Pay Day, a symbolic point of the year after which women are essentially being unpaid for their work because of the gender pay gap. It demonstrates the importance of telling these stories, and the need to remember those who fought so that we today can continue to. Despite its weaker moments, On The Line explores a vital part of the community’s history, with heart poured into every element. There is no doubt that this story deserves to be told, and this production certainly does it justice 50 years later.

On The Line plays at the Questors Theatre until 21st November. Tickets are available from https://questors.org.uk/event/on-the-line/

Photos by Finn Hartnup-Williams