Stand & Deliver Traverse Theatre Edinburgh 19th May 2026 Review
Image Credit Trinity Mirror Mirrorpix.
Stand & Deliver: The Lee Jeans Sit-In is at the Traverse Theatre Edinburgh for two dates only, tonight 19 and tomorrow 20 May, and both dates are sell-out shows. If you are reading this review and still want to see this show, it is on a short tour at the moment in other towns.
This show is a co-production between National Theatre of Scotland and Tron Theatre company and tells the story of the Lee Cooper sit-in which took place in 1981. When faced with the threat of the closure of the Greenock factory by its American owners, which put 240 jobs on the line, the employees, mainly women, took matters into their own hands and declared that they were not losing their jobs and this factory, which was vital to employment in the area, without a fight, and their voices being heard.
At the forefront of this decision was Helen Monaghan – the workers’ Shop Steward, who was, along with some other workers, thrust unexpectedly into the media spotlight as a campaign that was initially planned to last a few days at best turned into a seven month long sit-in at the factory which attracted national and international media attention.
When this production premiered back at the end of April in the Tron Theatre in Glasgow, Helen Monaghan (now approaching 90 years old) and other people associated with this sit-in were there to see their actions, their peaceful sit-in of the Lee Cooper factory, become a stage production.
Stand & Deliver, written by Frances Poet and directed by Jemima Levick, from an idea conceived by Paul English and Frances Poet, has taken over six years to come to the stage. Part of this long time was due to speaking to as many people involved in this event in 1981 and capturing their first hand stories, then cross checking all of these against one another for details (people’s memories can play tricks over a time period of 45 years).
This show has for the most part a young cast (a lot of the people working in the factory were young), and they often have multiple parts as well as taking to the stage behind them to form a band playing many hits from 1981, such as, you've guessed it, "Stand and Deliver". This may seem odd at first, but when you find out that music was such an important part of keeping people’s spirits up during this seven month long sit-in, everything makes sense, particularly when the careful use of songs and their lyrics are so related to this story.
One person on-stage who does not play in this band is Jo Freer, who plays the part of Helen Monaghan. In this role, Jo is at times both narrator of the events of 1981, but also someone looking back upon them from the perspective of memories in 2026, and this works surprisingly well. Looking back from 2026 also has a more than a few poignant moments, particularly when it is time to tell us all in the audience what happened to some of the people on stage. What do you do when the fight is over and the battle is won? The answer is often very different from what you plan for at the outset.
The full cast here are, Aron Dochard (Finlay), Jo Freer (Helen), Madeline Grieve (Ensemble), Shonagh Murray (performing musical director), Hannah Jarrett-Scott (Cathie) and Chiara Sparkes (Maggie). This truly is an ensemble work for stage and it works, like the Lee Cooper factory floor worked, because everyone has their part to play in the larger production. It is of course Jo Freer as Helen who commands so much of the story here, and her performance succeeds often because of her ability to just be often understated, but clearly focused in this part. This is not a role for over the top performances, and Jo Freer clearly understands this.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
This show is a co-production between National Theatre of Scotland and Tron Theatre company and tells the story of the Lee Cooper sit-in which took place in 1981. When faced with the threat of the closure of the Greenock factory by its American owners, which put 240 jobs on the line, the employees, mainly women, took matters into their own hands and declared that they were not losing their jobs and this factory, which was vital to employment in the area, without a fight, and their voices being heard.
At the forefront of this decision was Helen Monaghan – the workers’ Shop Steward, who was, along with some other workers, thrust unexpectedly into the media spotlight as a campaign that was initially planned to last a few days at best turned into a seven month long sit-in at the factory which attracted national and international media attention.
When this production premiered back at the end of April in the Tron Theatre in Glasgow, Helen Monaghan (now approaching 90 years old) and other people associated with this sit-in were there to see their actions, their peaceful sit-in of the Lee Cooper factory, become a stage production.
Stand & Deliver, written by Frances Poet and directed by Jemima Levick, from an idea conceived by Paul English and Frances Poet, has taken over six years to come to the stage. Part of this long time was due to speaking to as many people involved in this event in 1981 and capturing their first hand stories, then cross checking all of these against one another for details (people’s memories can play tricks over a time period of 45 years).
This show has for the most part a young cast (a lot of the people working in the factory were young), and they often have multiple parts as well as taking to the stage behind them to form a band playing many hits from 1981, such as, you've guessed it, "Stand and Deliver". This may seem odd at first, but when you find out that music was such an important part of keeping people’s spirits up during this seven month long sit-in, everything makes sense, particularly when the careful use of songs and their lyrics are so related to this story.
One person on-stage who does not play in this band is Jo Freer, who plays the part of Helen Monaghan. In this role, Jo is at times both narrator of the events of 1981, but also someone looking back upon them from the perspective of memories in 2026, and this works surprisingly well. Looking back from 2026 also has a more than a few poignant moments, particularly when it is time to tell us all in the audience what happened to some of the people on stage. What do you do when the fight is over and the battle is won? The answer is often very different from what you plan for at the outset.
The full cast here are, Aron Dochard (Finlay), Jo Freer (Helen), Madeline Grieve (Ensemble), Shonagh Murray (performing musical director), Hannah Jarrett-Scott (Cathie) and Chiara Sparkes (Maggie). This truly is an ensemble work for stage and it works, like the Lee Cooper factory floor worked, because everyone has their part to play in the larger production. It is of course Jo Freer as Helen who commands so much of the story here, and her performance succeeds often because of her ability to just be often understated, but clearly focused in this part. This is not a role for over the top performances, and Jo Freer clearly understands this.
Review by Tom King (c) 2026
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com