There's a new, exciting uplifting play stuffed full of songs and laughs, heart and soul that's been written by Ian Kershaw - TV writer and husband of Corrie's Hayley, actress Julie Hesmondhalgh - and it also stars two ex-Coronation Street actors, Tupele Dorgu (Kelly Crabtree) and Rupert Hill (Jamie Baldwin).
The play tells the gripping real life story of the huge mill-workers strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, USA in 1912. 20,000 workers originating from all corners of the globe, led mainly by the female workforce who fought not just for the bread for their daily existence, but also for the roses in order to live a full life - a fight that resonates and continues to this day.
Written by Ian Kershaw (award winning television and theatre writer, whose plays include Star-Cross’d for the Coliseum), Bread & Roses features a mix of real and imagined characters. The story of Lucy-Rose Atkins as she navigates the strike, facing love, loss, lies and deceit, using her quick wit, impassioned heart and fierce intelligence to undertake a journey from unskilled worker to impassioned leader.
The strike was also famously known as ‘The Singing Strike’ and Bread & Roses uses songs from the time of the strike – mainly from the influential songwriter Joe Hill (who inspired countless other rebel voices from Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez to Bruce Springsteen and Billy Bragg). These are the songs that rouse rabbles, shake houses and lift roofs as Lucy-Rose Atkins leads her workers in their fight of their lives - a fight, not just for bread, but for roses too!
The play opens at the Oldham Coliseum on June 22 and runs until July 7. Buy your tickets here
Find out more about Ian Kershaw here.
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Wish I could see this. Lawrence is very close to where I live - the mills were the life blood of this area, and a living nightmare for the workers. The city is still struggling but mill district has been revitalized.
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