A NEW play dramatising the fight of Cradley Heath's women chainmakers will be coming to Netherton next month,

‘Rouse, Ye Women!’ tells the story of union leader Mary Macarthur and the women chainmakers who made history when they staged a ten-day strike to fight for better pay and conditions, in a folk-opera style.

Director Louise Townsend said: “The focus of the production is not just the massive achievement of the women chainmakers in their fight for better wages, but also how Mary Macarthur and the National Federation of Women Workers, of which she was a founding member, sought to challenge the prevailing view that women made poor trade unionists, were a threat to male employment and wages, and were generally unorganisable.

"Mary Macarthur herself wanted trade unions to educate women workers to be better citizens, empower them to demand more from life and gain fair treatment as workers; to ensure that women can be an effective force within the trade union movement to strengthen the position of the entire industrial working class.

"Through this production we will aim to draw parallels with the inequalities in the lives of women just over a hundred years ago with modern issues of family life, low pay, the minimum wage, the gender pay gap and equality of opportunity.”

The play, penned by Neil Gore, will use industrial folk songs, music hall and folk songs with a modern twist to help tell the tale of the chainmakers' fight for justice.

The production arrives at Netherton Arts Centre on March 7, as part of a UK-wide tour.