Spitfire Girls At Royal & Derngate Northampton Review

DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW

Reviewed by Janine Rumble

Last night, I attended the Royal and Derngate theatre to review Spitfire Girls, a Tilted Wig and Mayflower Southampton production, written by Katherine Senior, who also performed as the main character Bett.

Spitfire Girls is a personal project of the actor and writer, who found out about the ATA, the Air Transport Auxiliary, which was founded at the outbreak of World War Two. It was a civilian organisation that saw them ferrying RAF and RN warplanes between factories, maintenance units and frontline squadrons.

During the war, 1,250 men and women undertook this role, a role I had no idea about until I watched this play. Katherine Senior stumbled upon the work of the ATA and set about researching this war department. She met former members of the ATA, she met family members of members of the ATA and gathered stories on their daily lives during the war and working for the ATA. She looked at the human stories, the personal and the poignant and put them altogether in this celebration of humanity, spotlighting a role and a story that I do not think many people know about. A story that should be told, heard and celebrated.

This five person play follows two sisters, Bett and Dotty who sign up to join the ATA to escape a life of drudgery on the family pig farm and to help during the war, against the wishes of their father. It follows them signing up to the ATA during the war all the way to New Years Eve in 1959. It shows the camaraderie of friends and colleagues during this time, the fragile state of family, the worry and the torment that war brought. Its main focus was the relationship between Bett and her sister Dotty, played brilliantly by Hannah Morrison and how it changed from the beginning to the end of the play where Bett is now an owner of a pub, who sits down after the pub closes and reminisces about the war.

Paul Brown plays Tom, Dotty’s love interest and also plays Jimmy, who works at the ATA. Jack Holland plays Bett and Dotty’s cantankerous old dad who does not want his daughters to be in the ATA, who wants them to be at home taking care of the pig farm. The action between them as they battle as a family was interesting to watch, as was seeing the struggle between the two sisters, the unsaid and the said came together in raw, unbridled emotions, which has you reaching for the tissues. He also plays Frank, the local who has his own bar stool and sits in the pub every night. There is a lovely, poignant moment between him and Bett towards the end of the play, which shows another form of relationship. Kirsty Cox played the C.O. of the ATA and Joy, another of their ATA friends. The scene between the three women where they get drunk celebrating New Years Ever during the war is very funny and believable.

The stage is a very simple one, dark background and a simple platform in the middle of the stage where the action takes place. The simple props, such as a table, a bar, an old 1930s radio, a Christmas tree all add to the ambience of the play. The lighting also adds to this, brighter lighting when times are good, darker lighting for the more harrowing moments, of which there are a few. The music also adds to helping the audience slip into the era.

Spitfire Girls is on at the Royal and Derngate in Northampton until Saturday 7th March. Tickets start from £22.00 and can be purchased from the Royal and Derngate box office or online at https://royalandderngate.co.uk/whats-on/spitfire-girls/

I give this show 4 out of 5 for the telling of an unknown story that needs to be heard and for the pure nostalgia of the era.

Rating: 4/5