Contact Young Company celebrates 100 year anniversary of People Act

Hope Primus | 20th February 2018

CONTACT YOUNG COMPANY BANGS THE DRUMS TO CELEBRATE ANNIVERSARY YEAR.

Courtesy of Contact Theatre

This March, the award-winning Contact Young Company celebrates the 100 year anniversary of the Representation of the People Act (1918) with She Bangs the Drums. This much-anticipated show is based on research at the People’s History Museum and will take place in the Museum of Science and Industry‘s characteristic 1830 Warehouse as part of the city’s Wonder Women 2018 radical feminist festival.

 

She Bangs the Drums has been devised by Contact Young Company following extensive research into the People’s History Museum’s archive and will explore familiar and unheard voices from Manchester’s  rich and radical past as a centre of protest. It takes a fresh look at past Mancunian pride and radical thinking and explores how these events can change our perception of the future.  Contact Young Company will take the audience on a journey through the historic spaces of the Museum of Science and Industry whilst exploring Manchester’s ongoing relationship with political protest.

Although not the end of the fight, this huge step was largely influenced by working class men and women from Manchester and the North West. Their passionate protest and sometimes militant behaviour brought a fight for a fairer society to the forefront of politics, affecting the social climate of the United Kingdom forever.

Contact Young Company actor Ruby O’Casey said:

“My great-great-aunt –  Hanna Sheehy Skeffington – was a feminist and an incredibly important figure in the Irish suffragette movement and her story is deeply significant to me and to my whole family. She has been a huge inspiration to me all of my life and I couldn’t be prouder to be related to her.”

Assistant director Hebe Reilly added:

“It’s an exciting challenge to try and capture the revolutionary spirit of women and men who broke convention, windows and the law for our right to vote. Looking beyond the well-known figures of the period, our young actors have been seeking out people like Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, Annie Kenney and Lady Constance Lytton – who represent some of the diverse, radical and intersectional figures of the era. Contact has given its young actors space to explore not just the women’s suffrage movement but also to reflect on how far we have come towards achieving equality for women in 2018.”

Museum of Science of Industry 

Thu 8 Mar – Sun 11 Mar,

11.30am, 2pm and 7pm (Thursday & Friday)

2pm and 7pm (Saturday & Sunday).

Tickets are on sale now priced £13/£7

Call 0161 274 600 or click here to book!

Please note this show is for over 14s.