Ardent Theatre Announce The Full Cast Announced For STRIKE at Southwark Playhouse

As a South African grapefruit rolls towards the shop till, it will start something that will take nearly three years to finish......

It's a hot, hot summer and Frankie Goes to Hollywood are riding high in the charts. At Dunnes Store, shop assistant Mary Manning refuses to ring up a grapefruit, sticking to her union instructions not to handle South African goods, in protest of the country's apartheid policies. Mary is immediately suspended and it's not long before she and eight other young women and one young man, all workers at Dunnes, are out on strike. It'll only last a few weeks......

Kirsty Patrick Ward directs Tracy Ryan's extraordinary account of the Dunnes Stores Anti-Apartheid Strike which took place in Dublin from 1984 to 1987. This action would play a pivotal role in world history with Ireland becoming the first Western European state to ban South African imports and ultimately leading to the fall of the apartheid regime.

Full of passion and humour, Strike! is the true story of the hardships and personal sacrifices, the friendships and camaraderie these extraordinary young shop workers experienced as they stood up for what they believed in. As their understanding of the suffering under apartheid in South Africa and the politics within their own Government deepened, they began a journey that would change their lives, and Ireland, forever.

The full cast is Jessica Regan (Karen), Anne O'Riordan (Liz), Sheila Moylette (Alma), Aoife Boyle (Sandra), Adam Isla O'Brien (Tommy), Orla Scally (Michelle), Doireann May White (Vonnie), Chloe O'Reilly (Mary), Ciara Andrea Murphy (Cathryn), Charlotte Duffy (Theresa), Ciana Howlin (Sinead), Paul Carroll (Paul/Brendan) and Mensah Bediako (Nimrod).

Tracy Ryan is an award-winning Irish director and writer. Her credits include Sisters the musical (The Mill Theatre); The First Irish Coffee (Laughter Lounge), Rogue (GSA Grad Show 2021); Sure Thing (The Corps Ensemble (Bohemian Theatre); Brothers of the Brush (Verdant Productions Irish tour); Iphigenia in Splott (Irish premiere (Smock Alley Theatre Trainspotting (Olympia Theatre), Legacy (Rich Mix), Disco Pigs and Sucking Dublin (Smock Alley Theatre - winner of the Best Ensemble, The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards 2017); The Boys (Viking Theatre, Smock Alley and Irish tour).

Kirsty Patrick Ward is a Director and Dramaturg and has been shortlisted for the JP Morgan Emerging Directors award and was a finalist for the JMK Young Directors award. Her recent credits include Manic Street Creature (Summerhall/Edinburgh), winner of Scotsman Fringe First award, Mental Health Fringe award 2022, Groan Ups (Vaudeville Theatre), Moonlight and Magnolias (Nottingham Playhouse), Spiderfly (Theatre503) and The Sweet Science of Bruising (Southwark Playhouse/Wilton's Music Hall.

There will be a post-show Q&A after the matinee on Tuesday 18 April with cast and creatives as well as the original strikers. This is free to same day ticket holders.