Festa: The Factory Girls by Frank McGuinness

Festa: The Factory Girls by Frank McGuinness

In a Donegal shirt factory in the 1960s, five working-class women face the threat of redundancy, at a time when the industry itself is dying a death They take on management and the union and decide to stage a lock-in at their workplace. They are fighting to determine their own future: a fight that will change their lives and friendships forever. First performed more than thirty years ago, Frank McGuinness’s major play bears testimony to the strengths and skills of working women, the culture of the work they represent, and the threat to destroy that culture. Linking arms and with curlers in their hair, the factory girls articulate their love and humour, their anger and compassion, their courage and solidarity.
This realistic tale of gritty factory life, which is filled with humour, charm and pathos, was highly influenced by McGuinness’ mother, an indomitable personality, now deceased. 'My mother was a very funny person and had a very powerful sense of humour,' McGuiness recalls. 'In cultural terms, that was probably her biggest influence on me. She taught me to always see the potential for the subversive. She was also a very hard working woman. She left school when she was 14, and went into a shirt factory. She really put an awful lot of skill and imagination into her work. The courage and strength she showed is very much reflected in the women who I admire and wrote about in The Factory Girls.'
Starring Cathy Lawler, Moll Fullam, Mary McHugh, Sarah Broe and Sally Aughney, as the intrepid factory girls - this is a Moat Club production not to be missed!
Johnny Mooney and Tom McGrath complete the cast as Factory Manager Mr. Rohan and union official Andy Bonner respectively. Rohan is a new broom, determined to make his mark – the first Catholic to be appointed to a managerial position in this factory. Unfortunately he has no idea how to win over the women and is fighting an uphill battle in his efforts to deal with the necessity of redundancy (voluntary or otherwise!) in a recessionary time. Andy Bonner, the union rep., is a political animal and the only one likely to do well out of this tense situation.
There are close parallels between the time-frame of The Factory Girls and the economic climate prevailing today.