Playhouse, Sheffield – until October 25th 2025
Reviewed by Sharon Farley
4****
“A fun, feel-good musical with a serious issue at its heart”
Nicky Hallet’s Gwenda’s Garage, by Out of the Archives. is a fun, feel-good musical with a serious issue at its heart. Set in the 1980’s, the play focuses on a piece of Sheffield history; Hallet (In the Key of Blue, Re/Sisters: Façade for the Twenty-First Century, Hares’ Breath) adapts the story of a female run garage set up by Roz Wollen, Annette Williams, and Ros Wall when they couldn’t find work as mechanics within the male-dominated industry, despite having excelled in their qualifications for it.
From the energetic opening, it’s clear the play’s characters are risk takers as well as being full of life. They not only run the workshop, but also use it as a base to demonstrate the power of community and activism to effect change. The primary issue being protested here is the now infamous ‘Section 28’, legislation that prevented schools and councils from ‘promoting homosexuality’ and led to a climate of fear and isolation for LGBT+ people. Gwenda’s Garage does a marvellous job of demonstrating the impact on same-sex parents of this shameful moment in UK political history, though it could perhaps have done more to address the implications for children coming to terms with their sexuality in such a restrictive environment.
In addition, Gwenda’s Garage touches on a multitude of weighty issues from unemployment through race and gender discrimination to LGBT+ rights and political correctness, yet still succeeds in being thoroughly enjoyable and effervescent. Having a live band to play the score, written by Val
Regan (In the Key of Blue, Re/Sisters: Façade for the Twenty-First Century), provides rousing musical accompaniment for the multitude of songs, brilliantly performed by the cast, that ring out the themes being explored. There is a strong sense of the benefits of community support in this performance at both a personal development and political change level. It also carries a powerful message by creating a bridge between the prejudiced views of the Thatcher era government and some of the disturbing rises in authoritarian discrimination we see in today’s geopolitical landscape.
The writing also manages to distribute the limelight very evenly among all the performers, each has their moment to shine and combined they move in perfect harmony. Eva Scott (Wonder Boy, Fool Me Once, EastEnders) as Carol depicts a matriarchal figure, always ready to help others achieve personal goals; Bev (Nancy Brabin Platt – As You Like It, Never Swim Alone, Doctor Who) and Terry (Sia Kiwa – The Book of Mormon, Waterloo Road, Coronation Street) bring in the love story element as we watch their relationship unravel and later find its solid ground; Dipstick, played by Lucy Mackay (Sappho, Rage Room, Sumotherhood), provides much of the comical opportunity that is often the burden of any workplace apprentice; and Feona is well portrayed by Georgina Coram (Tango Buenos Aires & City Of Dreams, Wild, Cool and Swinging, Robin Windsor: The Final Act) to demonstrate the wider impact on the public of creating a welcoming and inclusive environment.
The production also promotes the legacy of the original Gwenda’s Garage in its support for WEST (Women in Engineering, Science and Technology), proving that the spirit of community support lives on beyond the stage. Out of the Archives is the theatre company co-founded by Hallet and Regan which aims to bring the forgotten stories of ordinary LGBT+ people into the light, thus contributing to greater public knowledge and understanding. This performance was clearly a big hit with the audience, it can still be caught at the Playhouse in Sheffield until October 25th before its run at the Southwark Playhouse in London.