The Herald - The Herald Magazine
A woman with so many stories to tell
IT’S A little hard to focus on the Scottish stage at the moment, given the greatest theatre is being played out in London’s Royal Courts of Justice, with the Wagatha Christie story. We haven’t seen such sorcery since Glinda and Elphaba (also once two close friends) began to cast their dastardly spells. And the greatest part of this show is we all get to be a little wicked and decide who should melt on the floor before us.
But that’s not to say we can’t enjoy our own melodrama, running a little closer to home. Red Ellen is the enticing story of Ellen Wilkinson, a campaigner, fighter, journalist, politician and polymath.
Born in the late 19th century, Red Ellen’s nickname was an indicator of her politics, but also her fiery personality. This new play by dramatist and poet Caroline Bird takes us through the later years of Wilkinson’s life. And what a life it was.
The MP for Middlesbrough East (1924-31) and for Jarrow from 1935 until her death in 1947, for a time Wilkinson was one of only four women in the House of Commons and Labour’s only female MP.
“Her achievements are extraordinary by any standards but given her working-class background and the limited possibilities for women in her day, they are positively heroic,” say the producers.
But it’s claimed that Red Ellen was forever caught on the right side of history, but the wrong side of life. She straddled the chasm between revolutionary and parliamentary politics in a bid to create a better world.
She battled to save Jewish refugees in Nazi Germany, campaigned for Britain to aid the fight against Franco’s
Fascists in Spain and fronted the Jarrow Crusade, marching from Newscastle to London to deliver a petition demanding the end to unemployment and poverty.
At one point Wilkinson campaigned in the House of Commons (as minister of education) so that milk in schools should be free.
But the one-time Communist, played by Bettrys Jones, also served as a member of Churchill’s cabinet (desperate times called for desperate measures?). What to make of this remarkable woman? Bird notes in the programme. “There are so many Ellens to choose from.”
Was she compromised by power? Did she need to be inside the tent looking out? Wilkinson had responsibility for organising air-raid shelters and was christened the “shelter queen” during London’s Blitz.
But was the Manchester-born agitator sheltering from her own true convictions when she took up position in parliament? This play examines the concept of political compromise; is it inevitable?
Are those on the
Left doomed to
spend most of their careers attacking government.
“How do I fight fascism without sacrificing any of my principles?” she says at one point, in pleading voice.
But along the way we learn her libido proved to be almost as powerful as her determination to save the world.
This free-thinking, sexually liberated woman had affairs with Communist spies and government ministers. She was clearly ahead of her time. This is a play that uses history to help offer perspective on the world we face today.
Just as importantly it features a woman who was a force of nature. Take yourself away from the television and Wagatha. This play is truly
wicked.