Factory Girls
Rivendell Theatre
.. the camaraderie he develops between his five well-drawn female characters is affecting and infectious; when they gather for a sit-in that’s like a drunken slumber party, the scene is pervaded by both hilarity and desperation” Adam Langer, Chicago Reader May 12, 2000
“Like Frank McGuinness’s best-known work–the earnest if somewhat trying hostage drama Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me–his play about Irish textile workers who take over their employers’ Donegal office is an appealing actors’ vehicle. But here McGuinness’s characters aren’t chained to a wall, which allows for more physical and emotional interaction. Still, both works have a certain discursive, open-ended quality that somewhat dulls their impact. The conflicts between workers and management in Factory Girls sometimes feel mechanical, but the camaraderie he develops between his five well-drawn female characters is affecting and infectious; when they gather for a sit-in that’s like a drunken slumber party, the scene is pervaded by both hilarity and desperation.
Rivendell has assembled a fine cast for the show’s Chicago premiere, most notably Meighan Gerachis as Vera, who must decide between fighting the good fight and tending to her sick children, and Mary Cross as Rosemary, a young, impish worker who develops a taste for gin. But director Nick Bowling’s clean, spare production fails to completely capture the grittiness of the workers’ environment or the urgency of their predicament. It seems that if some of the characters here were laid off, they’d find rewarding careers in PR and marketing. As a result, McGuinness’s frustratingly indeterminate conclusion registers more as a shrug than as an impassioned plea for the disenfranchised laborer.”Adam Langer, Chicago Reader May 12, 2000 ” Chicago Reader“A play to reckon with when it opens Friday, “FACTORY GIRLS” is a burning work by Irish playwright Frank McGuinness (Tony Award- winning author of “Someone to Watch Over Me”). Here five female shirt inspectors in a Donegal textile plant rebel against what they consider unfair management, petty restrictions and downsizing. They have their internal differences but, united in anger, these “factory girls” make a formidable collective. One puts it forthrightly: “Everyone here is a factory girl. Factory girls never grow old and they don’t fade away.” To add authenticity, cast members traveled to Ireland to check out real-life textile plants” Chicago Tribune
Director
Nick BowlingPerformers
Meighan Gerachis, Mary Cross, Donna Freeburn, Jane Galloway Heitz, Danny Belrose, Tara Mallen, Tom Geraghty