Theatre reviews: Stand And Deliver | The Ballad Of Johnny And June
Inspired by the Lee Jeans Sit-In of 1981, Stand & Deliver is a rough-edged but brilliantly energetic show, writes Joyce McMillan
Stand And Deliver - The Lee Jeans Sit-In, Tron Theatre, Glasgow ★★★★
The Ballad Of Johnny And June, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh ★★★★
The year 1981 did not begin well for the women workers at the Lee Jeans factory in Greenock. In January, rumours began to circulate that the American owners were thinking of closing the plant and switching production to Northern Ireland; and in the first week of February, the workers’ worst fears were confirmed.
The women, though, were not about to take the decision lying down. Within hours of the closure announcement, the 240-strong workforce had voted to occupy the factory; and for seven months, they held out there to win a famous victory - although like many labour struggles led by women, their achievement has never been as widely recognised as it should be.
Now, though, the National Theatre of Scotland steps in to fill that gap in history with its new touring show Stand & Deliver: The Lee Jeans Sit-In; and if this is not the first-ever play about the dispute, there was still a huge sense of occasion at the Tron this week, when the show’s premiere played out in front of an audience that included many of the key figures in the sit-in, not least their magnificent shop steward and leader Helen Monaghan, now 89 years old.
Written by Frances Poet, co-conceived with journalist Paul English, and based almost entirely on detailed interviews with those involved, Stand & Deliver emerges in Jemima Levick’s production as a rough-edged but brilliantly energetic show in best Wildcat Stage Productions style, with an onstage band formed of members of the cast, a playlist of banging hits from the period, and a cast powerfully and movingly committed to the story they tell.
So on Jessica Worrall’s factory canteen set, Helen Monaghan is played with tremendous insight and feeling by Jo Freer, as a shy and reluctant leader driven by a stubborn inability to accept injustice; and she is powerfully supported by an explosively energetic Chiara Sparkes as her rebellious young colleague Maggie, along with Hannah Jarrett-Scott, Aron Dochard, Madeline Grieve, and performing musical director Shonagh Murray. And if the cast’s beautiful, thoughtful version of John Lennon’s Working Class Hero marks a musical high point of the show, Frances Poet also handles the ending of the story with an exquisite dramatic and lyrical skill; as the characters look back on what was in the end a short-lived victory, in a final moment perfectly balanced between hard-edged realism, and a stubborn, beautiful flame of hope.
Meanwhile in Edinburgh, Festival Theatre audiences have the chance to catch up with another vital working-class story in The Ballad Of Johnny And June, a new (2024) musical by Des McAnuff and Robert Cary about the shared musical life and legendary romance of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash.
Told through the eyes of their son John Carter Cash, The Ballad of Johnny & June pulls no punches in exposing the fierce tensions in Johnny and June’s partnership, which began when both were still married to other people, and was haunted for decades by Johnny’s fierce addictions to booze and pills, which eventually drew June into problems of her own.
The secret of the show’s power and energy, of course, lies in the aching, driving brilliance of its playlist, from early hits like Jackson and Ring of Fire, to Johnny’s heartbreaking I Hurt Myself Today. And both the songs and the drama are delivered with huge skill by a fine 13-strong cast, led by Ryan O’Donnell as narrator John Carter Cash, with Christopher Ryan Grant and Christina Bianco, who make the twin legends that were his parents live again, with unforgettable poignancy and power.
Stand & Deliver is at the Tron until 9 May, and on tour across Scotland until 10 June. The Ballad of Johnny & June is at the Festival Theatre until 2 May, and at the Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow, 13-22 August.
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