The Shadow Factory (NHB Modern Plays)
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Autumn 1940. The Battle of Britain rages.
Southampton is home to our only hope of victory: the Spitfire. But, in one of many devastating raids on the town, the Luftwaffe destroy the Woolston Supermarine Spitfire factory. The Government requisitions local businesses to use as shadow factories – but meets resistance. Fred Dimmock won’t give up his family laundry for anyone.
As the Dimmocks, and other families, struggle to keep control of their lives and livelihoods, a story of chaos, courage and community spirit emerges.
Telling the remarkable story of how a city triumphed over adversity, The Shadow Factory opened Southampton’s brand-new theatre, NST City, in 2018, directed by Nuffield Southampton Theatres’ Director Samuel Hodges.
Howard Brenton
Howard Brenton is one of the UK's most respected dramatists. His acclaimed plays include The Romans In Britain, Bloody Poetry, Weapons of Happiness, Pravda with David Hare and, more recently, In Extremis, Anne Boleyn and Doctor Scroggy's War for Shakespeare's Globe, Paul and Never So Good for the National Theatre, and 55 Days, The Arrest of Ai Weiwei, Drawing the Line and Lawrence After Arabia for Hampstead Theatre. He also wrote fourteen episodes of BBC spy drama Spooks.
More by Howard Brenton
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