Love on the Dole

Many thanks to The Windmill Players for inviting me to watch their latest drama Love On the Dole, on 13th October 2023 at Thornton Little Theatre. This play is set during the Great Depression and centres around the Hardcastle family plus some other residents of the Hanky Park estate, an industrial slum of Salford, as they are pulled apart by mass unemployment. With their father out of work, the burden of providing for and keeping the family together falls to siblings Harry and Sally Hardcastle. We follow their desperate struggles to break free of the poverty in which they live and the ups and downs of their respective romantic relationships. The play is an adaptation of a novel written at the time and features historical events like the march on Salford Town Hall by the National Unemployed Workers’ Movement in October 1931, which was met with violent police resistance.

I must first congratulate Bernard Melling on his superb direction. He managed to achieve just the right emotional balance between outrage at hardships endured, the hope and joy of young love and the strength of good old northern spirit. This could have been quite a depressing piece in the wrong hands but Bernard did a sterling job in ensuring a good pace was maintained (essential as this was a long play with two intervals) and the emotion ebbed and flowed, taking the audience on an immersive journey. The Windmill Players benefit from a very talented group of set builders and the set for this production was excellent. From its design and construction to the decoration and dressing, all was in keeping with the setting of the play and along with the accurate costumes and props, instantly transported me as an audience member to that poverty stricken Salford estate – well done all involved!

Congratulations also to Peter Jones; the sound cues throughout were very well timed and balanced, only enhancing and never distracting from the action being played out on stage

I greatly appreciated the different styles of acting on display throughout this piece and although mixing styles generally doesn’t really work for the audience, I felt that for this particular piece of theatre, the blend helped to both highlight and provide emotional relief from the principal sober subject of the play. Mr & Mrs Hardcastle played by Steve Cook and Liz Danielevicz, their children Sally & Harry Hardcastle played by Hope Miller and Luke Foley plus Larry Meath (Sally’s fiancée) and Helen Hawkins (Harry’s girlfriend) played by Dominic Bradley and Fern Paisley were all very well portrayed in a very naturalistic style. The opening scene between Sally and Larry was particularly strong and I genuinely felt I was a fly on the wall of the Hardcastle’s living room, with Hope organically to-ing and fro-ing between the dining table and the hearth to heat then use the iron whilst she chatted with Dominic, who convincingly put across his character’s depth of feeling for Sally. It is always nice for reps to make multiple return visits to see the same societies because we are able to witness growth and development amongst the members; on this particular occasion, I was struck by the improvement in depth of characterisation displayed by Fern Paisley as Helen and the more natural portrayal of a leading role delivered by Luke Foley as Harry. The fact these two played opposite each other was a bonus and really highlighted their good work – well done both of you! Amongst the supporting cast, we were treated to some fine character acting in the form of troublesome trio Mrs Jike, Mrs Dorbell and Mrs Bull played by Carol Crump, Georgina Coster & Catherine Edwards and Mr & Mrs Doyle played by Phillip Avenell and Marjorie Brown. These characters brilliantly injected the much needed light- hearted relief into the proceedings at various points, eliciting laughter from the audience without overdoing it and never slipping into pantomime comedy – all very well balanced performances. Bookie Sam Grundy and his sidekick Charlie were portrayed by Alan Dickinson and Kody Ketterick who, although they only had one brief scene together, had chemistry and bounced off each other very well indeed to the delight of the chuckling audience. Alan developed an excellent character arc as we saw his demeanour change towards Sally and his darker side was revealed, so that Sam Grundy was initially a loveable rogue of a character we laughed at but soon became the villain of the piece – very nicely done, Alan.

My guest and I thoroughly enjoyed this play and as proud northerners, we were touched by this production of a very thought provoking work. The Windmill Players should be proud of what they achieved here and I look forward to future productions.

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