Just over 40 years ago, Howard Brenton wrote the first new commission to be performed in the National’s Lyttelton theatre. Now his latest play opens Southampton’s newest theatre, the final piece in the city’s vision of a cultural quarter, which includes galleries, O2 Guildhall, SeaCity museum and the Mayflower theatre.
The Shadow Factory follows the consequences of a Luftwaffe strike on Southampton’s Spitfire factory in 1940 - a critical juncture of the second world war. Local businesses were summarily requisitioned; transformed into “shadow factories”, they were to maintain production of the aircraft described as “a violent, ugly killer – and exactly what we need” by newspaper magnate and recently appointed minister of aircraft production Lord Beaverbrook (Hilton McRae’s convincing, charming bully).
Brenton’s fictive exploration of these historical events follows the fortunes of the house on the hill and a family laundry business in the town (Anita Dobson is vivid both as Lady Cooper and laundry granny).
The play’s sweep is part epic, in its mix of points of view personal and political, and part pageant, in its demonstration (rather than working through) of situations and events – a well-integrated community chorus of singer-actors extends the scope of the action. Flying machines, roofscapes, bombscapes, interiors and landscapes are evoked stunningly via the adaptable lighting rig (59 Productions’ design).
This well-acted production, under Samuel Hodges’s balanced direction, brings the substance that achieves Southampton’s vision.
