STUDENT THEATRE REVIEW: The Gut Girls - The Theatre, Manchester School Of Theatre, Manchester.

This play by Sarah Daniels is all about empowerment: who has the power, who wants the power, how they use and abuse their power, and what people will do for power. To see it in any other light is perhaps to put too modernistic a viewpoint on the play. Set a full decade before the The Women's Social And Politcal Union became the Suffragette Movement in 1903, the power struggles here are still about equality, better working conditions, and subservience; but interestingly, Daniels chose to depict these struggles in the environs of a slaughterhouse, where majority of the workforce were girls, not even women. Looked upon by the rest of society as just one step away from prostitutes (the lowest of the low), and yet, they were far more independent and wealthy than many other more respectable jobs for women.  

The play shows their working conditions and their daily lives without rose-tinting them; we see them in a very precarious position between obedience to their male overseers, and those same overseers abusing their positions. However, philanthropy is at hand in the form of Lady Helena, who sets up a club for these young women in order that they might 'better themselves' and be able to earn money from a more 'respectable' position. The girls feel pressganged into attending, since it might just be their meal-ticket to something better, despite her military regime and offhandedness. But fate takes another turn as the factory is closed and the workers laid off, and so we follow the fates of five of these workers to see how just society is, and what 'betterment' actually means for them.

'The Gut Girls' of the title is meant in a literal sense - that's what they were called; however, these young women are both gutsy and have a lot of guts themselves too; and is refreshing, in our contemporary theatre, to find a play which focuses so clearly on the struggles of women, not just 100+ years' ago, but which also resonate in today's society too.

The stage was set with two wooden tables full of the entrails and offal of carcasses, with further carcasses hanging in pools of blood behind. Despite the set being just that - and obviously far too clinical - we still were given a fair representation of the working conditions of the time. Pity that theatre can't also offer an olfactory dimension too, as the stench must have been unbearable. 

Jonathan Woolf's direction seemed to be far more concerned with the characterisations of the cast, whilst 'blocking', [where the cast stand on stage], seemed very static and unrealistic. The swiftness of the changes in scene necessitated a single composite set, however, the white raised platform at the rear with a large blood stain in the middle didn't particular suit the purposes it was used for, and the scenes which took place in the upperclass residencies were quite awkward. In fact it was sometimes rather difficult to understand the setting of some of the shorter scenes. I did enjoy the omnipresent hooks -  looming harbingers of tragedy. 

Elizabeth Meadows, Jess Perillo, Ffon Eleri Evans, Rosie Walker, and Mia Gibson, worked excellently as the ensemble of gut girls. each with their own very distinct personalities and characters; Meadows bringing humour, Gibson, gravitas, and Walker, plaintive sincerity; and their stories and the journeys their characters took were clear and easy to follow. Having many of the cast, especially the males, multi-role however did obfuscate this somewhat and not knowing the play, the changes / differences in their characters wasn't at times clear enough. 

The play highlights the horrors and pitfalls of being a young woman at the time, whether of the lower classes or even the upper-classes too, as we see through the strong-willed and powerful Lady Helena (Amelia Simpson), and the more mysterious, subdued, and very much put-upon Priscilla (Claudia Whitby-Tillot). Even more interestingly perhaps; the men, who at that time are very much in charge and above reproach and questioning, are shown here to be much weaker and even needy; played with bravado by Mark Emmons, Sam Jukes, and Jack Elliot Rawston.

In general our interest was held throughout, although a few more changes of pace / dynamic, along with clearer signposting of scene locations; perhaps a little more set / costume too, would have helped enormously to bring this story more to life. 

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 8.4.22