Come Here To Me!

Arthur Scargill with the striking Dunnes workers

One of the best images from the lengthy Dunnes stores dispute of the 1980s shows one of the workers, Michelle Gavin, being presented with a birthday cake to mark her 21st birthday on the picket lines. An incredible image, it is difficult to imagine many 21 year olds today who would have the willpower or resolve of Michelle and her co-workers.

Strike! tells the story of that strike, and those behind it. It has previously ran in the city to great acclaim, and now returns for a second run. It is a fictionalised account of events, which uses visuals and music from the period in its production. With a cast of twenty young people, it is interesting to note that quite like many of us in blogland, many of these actors would not have been born at the time the dispute began.

Mary Manning, in refusing to handle Outspan grapefruit, began a dispute that would drag on for longer than the lockout of 1913. Ultimately, the workers would win. Their story should be told.

STRIKE! is coming back to the Samuel Beckett for 13 performances from Tuesday 26th October. Then it will perform in the Axis: Ballymun for 5 nights from Tuesday 6th November. Tickets cost 15.99/11.99 (concession)

So here’s to the girls of Dublin City who stretched their hands across the sea
That action surely is a lesson in workers’ solidarity
Here’s to the folk who heed the boycott, won’t buy Cape and spurn Outspan
And to the lad who joined the lasses
Ten young women and one young man
-Ewan MacColl.