Sylvia Pankhurst was such a political firebrand that even her mother, the infamous Emmeline, of suffragette fame, thought she took things a bit far at times. The entire Pankhurst family were politically active, albeit in slightly different ways, and this play seeks to tell us more about the life of Sylvia, as it also presents a cautionary warning that some fights never end.
Sylvia vs The Fascists is the latest production from Breathe Out Theatre, the production company of Manchester-based Rob Johnston, who has written and directed this play, and, in the Edinburgh Fringe, also acts as technician for the show. Sylvia, and every other character, is portrayed by Emma Laidlaw, originally from Edinburgh, but now also based in Manchester.
The show takes us through around 30 or so years of Sylvia’s life, and Sylvia has the gift of both foresight and hindsight as she tells us of the politicians and ordinary people who she interacted with, or petitioned, or campaigned against. Winston Churchill in particular is mimicked by Sylvia, who understands the political transformation he will make in the early decades of the twentieth century. The show leads us through the real history of the rise of fascism, communism and socialism in the UK and Europe.
This play is very clear about two things: Firstly, the aristocratic and ruling political classes of this country have rarely sought to do anything other than suppress the working person. Secondly, history is not about the history of great events, but is about the stories of ordinary people living through extraordinary events.
It’s the story of one of those ordinary people that creates the most emotive moment of the show, as Sylvia recounts the story of a tailor, living in London, who is interred in World War Two, merely for the “crime” of being Italian. This sequence is also one of the strongest in the show as a whole, and it would have been interesting to hear of more individuals encountered by Sylvia during her lifetime – everyone else is presented more abstractly, and sometimes even comedically. This makes for great story-telling, but it can feel like we’re being told the story we already know – rather than the one’s we don’t.
This is a play that makes you think, and makes you consider the true motives of those involved in politics, and allows you to understand the devastation that occurs when ordinary people are drawn into events determined by politicians who don’t know them, and don’t seem to care. The play is also forceful in its message that all of this can happen again, and that we all must fight to resist the rise of those who would seek to suppress us.
