Paved With Gold and Ashes

Paved with Gold and Ashes is the story of five women who survive a hideous factory. It is a historic narrative, based on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that killed 146 workers, nearly all of them young women. Directors Emma Kniebe and Julia Thurston have crafted a harmonious performance of song, ensemble and movement, which dwells just as much on the small words and exchanges of any workplace environment as it does upon the major, awful events of March 25, 1911.

A harmonious performance of song, ensemble and movement.

Julia Thurston has turned a catastrophe into a textile and touching script. The patter between the cast of five women who work at the factory is exquisite, dotted with the light humour symptomatic of workplace conversation, but also charged with in-fighting and assessments of status. As the audience take their seats the cast (Louise Courtney, Grace Cherry, Emma Kniebe, Amy Leeson, and Julia Thurston) are at their stations, already sewing. Music and voice are harmonious – with an almost choral perfection which turns the factory floor into a tender and emotive space. The characters simultaneously support and resist each other in small ways, but a certain kind of solidarity shines through.

There is anger, too. Although scenes of music, solidarity, and group ensemble create a world where these women support each other – they indicate another state of affairs: a world of men and business owners which is sexist, which values the lives of women as less than the cost of a shirt, and which was complicit in the raging inferno that killed the factory workers and inflicted life-changing injuries to countless others.

The dramatic irony of the piece is there from the outset. The audience knows how this story ends. The written journey that Thurston deploys to take the audience there is well-paced, extremely well structured, and intelligently metered. By the time the fire strikes, we have an intimate understanding of each character’s personality, inclusive of hopes and frustrations.

Thurston’s agonising and attentive descriptions of the factory fire is one of the most effective pieces of dramatic writing I have ever seen. Set against a red glow, the fire is brought to life with words and words alone. What is said and described is horrible and unfair. Thurston’s writing provides an unflinching mirror to today, where the malpractice of economic giants still persists. Thurston reminds us that there is nothing accidental about these catastrophes that result in the murder of citizens and employees – they are the final movement in a larger process, of what happens when those who have worked tirelessly in order to maintain a dream of the future, are disregarded by those who are living that dream

This play was presented by Threedumb Theatre as part of their Six Plays, One Day event at the Tristan Bates Theatre on 9th February, 2019.

http://www.threedumbtheatre.com