‘Look to the women – they are the beasts of burden.’
Sara Wesker was a trade unionist, political activist and radical who led the singing strikes of 1928 to improve the conditions of female garment workers in the East End of London. Lottie Walker brings her story to life in this one-woman show.
Sara tells her story in a frank and funny way. Interspersed with contemporary music on the piano, including some songs that may have a familiar-sounding melody, we learn about her journey to founding a trade union, the struggle between the love of her life and the love of the cause, and life in post-WWI Spitalfields.
Lottie is a compelling stage presence, engaging with the whole audience with cheeky asides, jokes and belting out class struggle standards. Her relationship with Mike is not the central theme – being the thorn in the bosses’ side rightly takes that place – but there’s a wistfulness at his later absence covered up by steely resolve.
The slideshow depicting events such as Cable Street and the battle for the Bryant and May matchgirls’ wellbeing emphasises that the fight for workers’ rights encompasses everyone, regardless of gender or race. The melting pot of Irish, Somali and Caribbean residents in Sara’s district pushing back against Mosley, as well as the appalling living conditions of immigrants in the East End, is also still depressingly relevant today.
There is power in a union, as the song reminds us, and Sara’s story is as relatable now as then.
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Chopped Liver and Unions is at Paradise in Augustines, 23-24 Aug