One year after the opening of The Nuffield Southampton Theatres and The Shadow Factory have returned due to popular. Directed by Sam Hodges, Howard Brenton’s production of The Shadow Factory is futurist and innovative. It is not often you get the opportunity to watch a play, about your home town, in your home town. There was even a slightly nostalgic feel to the play as I recognised locations and, I found it fascinating discovering the effects of the 2nd World War in an area I know so well. The 25 strong company, including the community ensemble, really did Southampton proud.
The play focuses on Fred Dimmock, a local business owner, following the Luftwaffe strike on the Woolston Spitfire factory in 1940. Lord Beaverbrook, minister of aircraft production, has the power to requisition local properties as ‘shadow factories’ in order to maintain the production of spitfires in Southampton. The play follows Dimmock, as he refuses and resists government threats, as well as exploring the newly emerging role for women. This is the story of a father rising from destruction and chaos to save his family. The residents of Southampton deserve to have their tale of courage, loss and spirit told and told again, and this play is a faultless homage to their legacy.
Arguably, the visionary use of technology in this play really gives The Shadow Factory the edge. The designers, 59 productions, are a multi-award winning company of artists, most famously designing the opening ceremony to the 2012 London Olympics. The surround soundscape in the the adapted thrust stage encumbered with the adaptable lighting rig brought the destruction to life, creating stunning landscapes, and a paragon illusion of flight. Further, 59 Productions utilised 36 small and dynamic “nano winches” developed in the Tait Towers. These single axis devices were grouped and controlled via a central computerised system. This formed a ‘kinetic structure’ replicating the fluid beauty of powered flight. The lighting scape was like nothing I’d ever seen before fitting the story of Southampton which had yet to be told.
The musical elements of the play were somewhat questionable. The composers had written choric numbers quite clearly in the style of a typical war song. Although this idea is sound, it made for repetitive and even boring music which didn’t deliver justice to the plainly talented musical cast. This was a shame, however, it didn’t not take away from the epic story of ‘triumph over adversity’. The story, told brilliantly through speech and dialogue, did not gain anything through the use of music, except perhaps to guide the audience, aiding their understanding of the war. Notably, there were a numerous comic elements of the play, preventing the play from becoming simply too sad. I felt it was particularly important, as it reminded the audience that life still goes on, this was especially true when Dimmock’s daughter announced she was marring a gentleman from Portsmouth, and her Gran cried “A mixed marriage in our family!”. It was these elements that ground the play showing family life, not just wartime.
Their use of technology has revolutionised my perception of the theatre, reminding me of the role that theatre takes in our lives. And, the power which is has to tell such profound histories through the beauty of art. This play is a must-see, and Howard Brenton has created genius. Every city needs their story told.
Reviewer - Grace McNicholas
on - 1/2/19
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