The forgotten story of firebrand MP Ellen Wilkinson who led the Jarrow March and helped bring the plight of the North East unemployed to national attention will be back in the spotlight this week ahead of the debut of a play in the spring.
The writer, director and star of new play Red Ellen will appear on BBC2's Inside Culture show with Mary Beard on Friday to talk about the remarkable woman at its core.
The play, written by award-winning poet and playwright Caroline Bird, will make its debut at Northern Stage in March, bringing back to life the tale of the revolutionary Labour MP who fought for social change in the forties, campaigning for everything from working men's rights to free school meals for children.
Read more: Ellen Wilkinson's account of the Jarrow Crusade
Caroline, director Wils Wilson and actress Bettrys Jones, who takes on the role of the woman dubbed Red Ellen because of both her politics and her flaming locks, will be seen in Friday's first episode of the new series of Inside Culture at 7.30pm which will look at how women in power are portrayed in the media.
Wilkinson - whose nickname inspired a local beer - made a huge impression on everyone in her day.
Caroline said: “Ellen was a complex person by anyone’s standards and she never stopped but, despite her herculean efforts, she is largely forgotten by history.
"The irony, of course, about ‘forgotten women of history’ is invariably the facts of their lives turn out to be acutely memorable."
Described by Northern Stage as an "unstoppable, reckless energy", Wilkinson applied as much force and passion to all aspects of her life.
While local people may well know the story of how she rallied the Jarrow Crusaders on their 1936 walk to London to deliver a petition to the Government following the closure of their local shipyard which left mass unemployment in its wake, few will be familiar with the full extent of her work.
She was the only female minister in Clement Attlee’s government, having had sole charge of air raid shelters during the war while serving in William Churchill's cabinet, and the working class hero also campaigned for Britain to aid the fight against Franco’s Fascists in Spain; published anti-fascist literature and battled to save Jewish refugees in Nazi Germany.
The Newcastle theatre says that aside from meeting such names as Albert Einstein and Ernest Hemingway, she had affairs with communist spies and government ministers, adding "but, despite all of this, she still found herself - somehow - on the outside looking in."
Caroline feels the play is pertinent to today. "There’s a feeling that Ellen spent her whole life walking, marching down a moving walkway that was going in the opposite direction - she had the wind in her face; sometimes she was having to fight just to stay still," she said.
The initial date for Red Ellen's premiere at Northern Stage was postponed by the pandemic. The story, which will be published by Nick Hern Books on March 31, already has been shortlisted for a George Devine Award which recognises recognising new writing and powerful voices.
Caroline said: "I’ve been living with Ellen Wilkinson in my head for about six years now and I can honestly say, after writing this play, Ellen has done the impossible: she has given me back a glimmer of faith in politics. We need politicians like Ellen."
She added: "She failed at so many things and yet she was a total, stonking, miraculous, life-affirming, bloody wonderful triumph. A bright and particular star.
"I hope that some of Ellen’s light can still reach us all the way down here, and that this play might reignite a spark or two.”
Caroline has also teamed up with Jasmin Kent Rodgman to write a Jarrow March song which will be performed on stage during the show by The Felling Male Voice Choir.
Red Ellen will run at Northern Stage from March 25 to April 9. To book tickets see here. It then will tour to Nottingham from April 13-30; Edinburgh from May 4-21 and York from May 24-28.
Ahead of that, another production delayed by the pandemic will make its stage debut from March 4-12.
Here, a play by Lindsay Rodden and a collabortion involving the theatre, A Curious Monkey - which works with refugees, migrants and asylum seekers - and Newcastle University, will lay bare the experiences of four people finding sanctuary in the unlikeliest of places.
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