REVIEW: All Hands On Deck: A Tale Of Two Wrens - Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield

This was the premiere performance of Mikron Theatre's 'All Hands On Deck' and the start of their tour consisting of 138 performances of this production.

'All Hands On Deck' is set during World War Two, and navigates a love story between the Royal Navy and their loyal ‘Jenny Wrens’. Their story starts in 1941 when against the prevailing attitudes of the day, women were trying to create and shape a Women’s Royal Navy Service fit for the future. These Women Royal Navy Officers would have sailed the high seas – many for the first time in their lives, to do their bit for their country.

The story starts when new WRNS recruits Ginger and Lily are looking for wartime adventure and their certainly find it in this production, which portrays the difficulties the WRNS had when they had to work along side the men, doing exactly the same jobs as them, and how the men coped with having women working in a male-dominated enviroment.

Lily wants to serve on dry land, but Ginger desperate to serve at sea, and the sailors can’t believe their luck! They both take up their dream posts in the Women’s Royal Navy and were both posted to different locations, but not without difficulties and doubt. As the story of Ginger and Lily unfolds it portrays their lives as WRNS and despite the distance and difficulties they both endured they managed to keep in touch and the story of course had a happy ending.

The show pays tribute to all those wartime women who pushed the door to opportunity firmly open. The performance was full of dots, dashes, semaphore and songs specially written for the play, of good entertainment value keeping the audience’s attention throughout.

The set was minimalistic with the various instruments used when the full cast of four burst into song and a stand which resembled various scenes throughout.

All the characters played their parts well with true compassion and feelings of the role. But particular mention to Ginger (Elizabeth Robin) and Lily (Rachel Benson) who portrayed their parts beautifully.

The whole production was a pleasure to watch and special credit should go to the director Marianne McNamara for directing and the writer Vashti Maclachlan for writing such a wonderful script.

In conclusion it was a wonderful portrayal of the life of the WRENS in a difficult time of history bought to life through a excellent script and direction.

Reviewer - Debbie Jennings
on - 13/4/19