sixTeen

Presented by New Perspectives’ Open Pitch

Written by Lisa McKenzie and Jayne Williams

Directed by Jayne Williams

Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham

Tuesday 9th September 2025

(Additional Date – Friday 12 September, 4.30pm at John Godber Centre, Hucknall NG15 7FQ)

The scene is set. We enter the performance space to take our seats in a triangular formation comprising three rows that are three deep. At each apex, a high stool awaits the three performers. Our chairs are black, the stools are black, and the actors arrive dressed in black. Already, I am mindful that this is a piece where coal, ‘black gold’ provides a rich seam to be mined.

We are soon transported back to the year 1984. Sutton-in-Ashfield to be precise. The Carsic estate where three working-class teenage girls, Lisa (Abigail Pidgeon), Debs (Grace Carter), and Michelle (Anna Sharpe-Jones) attempt to negotiate growing up and discovering themselves against the backdrop of the miners’ strike which affects all their lives and those of their families. They tell us that this is the tale of a town defined by what’s underground. But change is afoot………….

Writers McKenzie and Williams describe sixTeen as ‘storytelling theatre.’ We are invited into the girls’ space as they look us straight in the eyes to unload their hopes, dreams, and ambitions. Along the way they also divulge their trials and tribulations; the seating formation making their stories more intimate and ultimately more personal. It’s a resurrection of oral traditions for the modern-day. Searching, stimulating, and enriching theatre.

sixTeen rehearsal imagery below.

As the strike takes hold, Lisa, Debs and Michelle begin to question everything that they once presumed. Lisa evolves into the militant firebrand. Working on the ‘Hot Legs’ at the local Pretty Polly factory by day, writing letters asking for support for the families by night, all the while trying to make sense of her place in the world and where that might lead her.

Her friendship with Debs and Michelle provides both comedy and nostalgia to accompany the more sobering events. If you were around in the eighties, then there is plenty to reminisce about. Remember going to the sweet shop for your Rainbow Drops, aniseed balls, and kali? I certainly do. The witing is rich with these detailed references to 1980’s specific particulars.

Pidgeon and Carter put in fierce performances telling the stories of the women behind the men. They are beautifully tempered by the softer portrayal of Michelle by Sharpe-Jones. Together, they combine as a powerful triumvirate inviting you in yet challenging you to bear witness to the lesser-known tales of the females in this ravaged community.

Interspersed throughout are the real-life recollections of McKenzie’s mother who founded ‘Ashfield Women Against Pit Closures,’ the women’s group that did all the fundraising and at Christmas made sure every striking miner’s child in Ashfield had a present from Father Christmas. McKenzie also hosts a Q&A at the end of the performance where audience members are invited to share their own experiences in addition to questioning McKenzie.

The writing is whip-smart, making you want to laugh and cry, often at the same time. I particularly enjoy how McKenzie and Williams have captured the rhythm and cadence of working-class speech patterns of the eighties; the alliteration, slang, and aphorisms that were bandied about; the brutal honesty when being held to account; the fruitiness and scatological descriptiveness. It’s also lovely to hear Nottingham accents to the fore.

Although set during the miners’ strike, the themes of sixTeen still resonate today giving it a universal and transcendent appeal. It educates, informs, and entertains. Moreover, there is something uniquely special about hearing these women finding their voice, their leverage, and their power.

Content warning: Contains some strong language and references to suicide.

Running time: 90 mins including a post-show Q&A session with the writers and cast.

Rehearsal imagery by Kate Walker

The tour is in association with Ashfield Creates supported by the Royal Concert Hall.