Jaymee-Leigh Thackray is the writer of Girls Who War, which opens at London’s Lion & Unicorn Theatre tonight. The show follows three flatmates deciding which among them will answer the call of conscription following a national draft in a time of war. The company behind the piece, Working Girls, are aiming to uplift women’s voices in theatre and platform work that is for, and by, women. We caught up with Jaymee-Leigh for a pixelated pint ahead of the show’s opening night to dive into the show.

You can catch Girls Who War at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre until Wednesday 16th April at 19:30 (75mins). Tickets are available through the Venue’s Online Box Office.

Jake: Hi Jaymee-Leigh! Start off by telling us a little about your company Working Girls and what you’re aiming to do.

Jaymee: To start I’ll introduce the main team although we have many more incredible people who are involved in the company, Josie Mcabe, Elsie Youngman, Tasmin Wickremeratne, Caoimhe Reynolds and Jaymee-Leigh Thackray. We started Working Girls Theatre company about a year ago. Most of us are doing the same degree at the Central School of Speech and Drama, which is how we met! We wanted to see more work on stage that was run by and for women, particularly focusing on women playwrights. Playwriting has been a male-dominated field since forever, but that is changing, and we wanted to make sure we were a part of that change. When we get sent scripts, we prioritise women’s voices and we aim to help them see their work brought to life.

So far, we have run a successful scratch night at the Union Theatre, which made us realise how amazing scratch nights can be for making connections and meeting artists, so we hope to run lots more in the future. Girls Who War is our first full original play written by myself and I admit that I wrote it hoping it would be the first show we put on. I think that our first show being an all-women cast and creative team was very important to us (and very fun). We also have another show debuting at this year’s Camden Fringe, written by our very own Tasmin Wickremeratne (She/Her) so keep your eyes peeled for that!

Jake: Tell us about your upcoming farcical comedy Girls Who War, what it has to do with flatmates, Vera Lynn, and ‘WW2 bangers’.

Jaymee: Girls Who War tells the story of three young women from all kinds of socio-economic backgrounds struggling to decide which of them will serve in a national draft which stipulates that one person from each household must volunteer. The girls all have nuanced, unique relationships with each other that can only develop from living together. All of that pent up anger and love from sharing a space for so long explodes when a decision has to be made.

Vera Lynn is the outsider. She is a really fun and unique character who interrupts the dynamic between the girls with her charming and witty songs. None of the girls know or understand why she is there. She is sort of like if Nanny McPhee sang songs from World War Two, but put her own spin on the lyrics.

Jake: What are you hoping the audience might take away from the experience, if anything?

Jaymee: First of all, we hope the audience have a good laugh. If their bellies hurt from laughing so much, then we couldn’t ask for more. But despite being a silly comedy, the show isn’t just a silly comedy. The audience should feel like they can really connect to these girls. We’ve all sat in bed at night (or maybe its just me) worrying about the ever-growing threat of war, so the show should be somewhat cathartic. Seeing someone else going through what we all dread and laughing about it might hopefully put some minds at ease. On the other hand, War is taking place all across the world, and we here in Great Britain tend to turn a blind eye at every opportunity with the blissfully ignorant knowledge that it doesn’t concern us. This collective flaw is something the audience can share with the characters, which might conjure up some self-reflection. 

Jake: Tell us about how the show has ended up being performed at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre and about your relationships with the other creatives involved.

Jaymee: Some of us have performed or have worked on shows at the Lion and Unicorn before so the space is familiar to us. I have been in contact with David who runs the theatre and he has been extremely helpful and accommodating. The venue itself is great for first time theatre makers as the application process is super easy and the venue is very financially accessible.

I met the director Jade Dharma Roberts when a ten minute version of the show was performed at the brilliant Moya Jane Productions Scratch night at Barons Court Theatre. Jade was so brilliant we asked her to direct the full thing. Myself and Jade also re-casted Lana Lei from the original scratch night whilst the rest of our incredible cast (Eleanor Jones, Sophie Wolsencroft and Halli Pattison) were found via casting call. Our composer and arranger Annie Napier is also studying with us at CSSD and has composed for another production at the Lion and Unicorn (Connor Monkmans When Death Comes Knocking) which myself, Caoimhe and Tasmin were also involved in. All of the working Girls have also got stuck in! Caoimhe is our resident poster designer, Elsie has been a huge help with set design and Josie will be providing muscle and transport on the get-in and get-out. Its all hands on deck!

Jake: Given the themes of Binge Fringe, if your show was a beverage of any kind (alcoholic, non-alcoholic – be as creative as you like!), what would it be and why?

Jaymee: If Girls Who War was a drink it would probably be a pink Molotov cocktail that turned out to be an actual cocktail that you can drink through a crazy straw!

A reminder, you can catch Girls Who War at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre until Wednesday 16th April at 19:30 (75mins). Tickets are available through the Venue’s Online Box Office.