Arriving at Southwark Playhouse after a successful run at Sheffield Theatres, Gwenda’s Garage, a warm and witty Northern musical with a heart, creates a factional story around a group of car mechanics who happen to be both women and lesbians.
Written by Nicky Hallett (script) and Val Regan (music/lyrics), this musical captures the political and personal in the mid-1980s, when Clause 28 allowed protest and activism to grow.
As it is set in Sheffield, the economic situation is clear, The steelworks have closed down, there are just a few coal mines left. Unemployment is high, so women are at the bottom of the pile for employment. Strikes have been rife. Despite a spirit of collectivism, racism and sexism are still the norm.
Against this context, we are taken from a thriving 2025 workshop back to where it all began, with Carol, Terry, Bev and Dipstick (the YTS trainee) setting up Gwenda’s Garage (named after pioneering racing driver Gwenda Stewart). With no men on the staff, this group of women are creating their own safe space for employment and discussion.
Created by an all-lesbian team, including director Jelena Budimir, the show is inspired by stories from those associated with the real garage, adapted into the stories of these four women and a client, Feona, who has her own life changes to make.
Feona is perhaps the least convincing character, with her Laura Ashley dress, Surrey accent, and veiled disgust at the reality of life up North, but she comes into her own in act two.
With 14 songs and a reprise, this musical has some memorable moments and a brass and percussion driven vibe, slotting right into the 1980s while offering a sense of celebration.
Solos include “I Want to Be a Mother” for Bev, “Family of One” for Terry, and “I’m Only Passing” for Feona, while group numbers offer both girl power and a sense of community (“None of this Happened Here”, “I Know a Woman Who Can”).
Full of northern wit, grit and cheek (and I especially appreciated a mention of my own home town for Carol), Gwenda’s Garage zones in on the women’s movement (equal pay, feminism) and the rise of LGBTQ+ rights activism.
Although most sequences take place in the garage, a few take us into other locations and assumed characters, such as outside the council offices, the BBC newsroom where lesbians invaded the transmission, and within the House of Lords, giving a wider context to what women were attempting to draw attention to injustice.
All the performances are strong. Carol (Eva Scott) is the mother hen, caring but brusque with it. Terry (Sia Kiwa) and Bev (Nancy Brabin-Platt) face their own pitfalls as the plot progresses, while navigating their own personal intimacy.
Dipstick (Lucy Mackay) starts clueless but develops into a committed activist and mechanic. Feona (Georgina Coram) is brittle but determined. Liz Kitchen offers a few character bits and additional roles when she’s not behind the drum kit.
The band are also excellent, particularly Jude Abbott (trumpet) and Becky Eden-Green (saxophone and clarinet). Richard Body (keyboard), Jude Holland (bass guitar) and Liz Kitchen (drums) make up the rest of the quintet.
Sarah Booth‘s set allows a car workshop to be both suggested and expanded, with the car being assembled as the show progresses. Callum Macdonald’s lighting and Joe Dines’s sound add an intimacy and reality to the small space.
Budimir’s direction places the performers up close to the audience at key moments, and blocks well to allow the audience on all three sides to feel involved.
The real Gwenda’s was founded by Ros Wollen, Annette Williams (died 2017) and Ros Wall (died 2010). Their work and tenacity lives on in WEST (Women in Engineering, Science and Technology) encouraging women to join non-traditional employment fields.
Gwenda’s Garage is a fine tribute to them and the women who preceded, walked with, and followed them.
It’s getting 5 stars from me.
Gwenda’s Garage continues at Southwark Playhouse Borough until 29 Nov – tickets here.
Image credit: Chris Saunders