Lay Up Your Ends

In 1983 the Charablanc Theatre Company hit the audiences of Belfast like a whirlwind, bringing hundreds of people out to the theatre who had never been there before.
Their first play, Lay Up Your Ends, which told the story of the Belfast mill strike of 1911, was a collaborative effort between playwright Martin Lynch and the five actresses who comprised the company at that stage: Marie Jones, Maureen Macauley, Eleanor Methven, Carol Moore and Brenda Winter.BR>The play became a legend in its own time and a high point in the Northern Irish theatre of the 1980s for its powerful action, vibrant humour and dynamic staging. It attracted huge national and international attention but has been in danger of being forgotten and disregarded because, until now, it has remained unpublished.
With this edition - which includes newly-written material from many of he major figures involved in the production, a critical introduction by Brenda Winter, as well as a generous selection of reviews from the time - Lay Up Your Ends is made available for new audiences to appreciate what made it one of the most important plays to come out of Belfast in the last twenty-five years.