Paved with Gold and Ashes by Threedumb Theatre.

Paved with Gold and Ashes is based on the 1911 tragedy in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, in Manhattan, New York. Where it was reported that 146 clothing factory workers died, many of them were young women and girls. It is believed to have been started by a discarded cigarette thrown into a scrap materials basket on a lower floor.

Working conditions are suffocating, breaks are short, wages are low and despite Unions trying to make changes to all of these the factory Owners refuse to acknowledge the existence of the Unions and nothing changes.

The audience sense and feel the fear experienced by the five factory workers who are always on the alert for the footsteps and stale tobacco smell when the shop foreman is nearby. He will take much pleasure in docking wages for talking, bad stitches or anything else he can use against them. Degrading and destroying confidence in their incredible seamstress skills.

As the story unfolds we realise that the women and girls’ stories are narrated by one of the survivors Rose ( Everleigh Brenner) escaping by the fire escape steps outside and then she desperately scrambles across the adjacent building’s roofs to escape the imminent tragedy. Relieved to be alive and pained to think of her deceased co-workers.

The part which struck me the hardest came as the fire engulfed the lower floors and the workers froze waiting for instructions from the men in charge to dismiss them early. Even in the face of imminent danger rules deeply engrained out of fear needed to be adhered to which probably led to a higher fatality rate. Unsurprisingly the so-called men in charge were nowhere to be seen.

The importance of the improvements in factory working conditions and the work carried out by the Unions comes to the forefront when tragic stories like these are bought to the Stage, a reminder of what these innocent hard-working ladies faced daily.

For more information and to book tickets please visit the link below.

Five Stars.