THE Red Shed Players, a Clarion Theatre Group from Wakefield, have been presenting plays which through humour, song and serious research expose the contradictions of capitalism.

The group started performing agit prop during the 1984 strike in Wakefield Labour Club; now they meet in Jackie’s kitchen to develop plays that explore events mainstream theatre avoids in favour of bland retreads of safe shows.

Over 40 years the group have presented pantomimes such as Snow White And The Seven Pit Closures and Corbyn Hoode and the Babes in the Wood, pieces co-constructed with people seeking asylum, political cabarets and most recently a trilogy of pieces which put working-class history against contemporary working-class life.

The intolerance to progressive ideas in the current Labour Party — Yvette Cooper, Labour secretary of state for foreign and commonwealth affairs walked out of a our performance of A Cost Of Living Crisis Christmas Carol — has led the group to perform in pubs, libraries, community centres and church halls across the north of England.

The players take no money for performances and donate money raised to progressive causes: most recently Medical Aid For Palestinians, Stand Up to Racism and Castleford Radical History Group.

In 2025 their version of Gaza Voices twinned with a self-penned piece about Palestine Action was played among other places at Wakefield Town Hall and Leeds University Occupation for Palestine.

“We try to put the ‘social’ into socialism” is their mantra. “This is theatre by working-class people celebrating working-class struggles for a fairer, more sustainable world,” said a company member.

“We learn a lot in researching the plays and from our audiences and our audiences tell us that they enjoy learning about their own, neglected history.

“We hope that the shows prompt the kind of discussion and engagement with ideas that happened before stupidification by social media.”

Dave Hanvey, musician and video-maker for the group further explained: “We do not take grants, we are not in anybody’s pockets. We enjoy each other’s company and the engagement with the audience.

“We enjoy collaborations with people who work in the arts but we detest the idea of cultural industries. Industry implies dehumanisation, we are doing our bit for rehumanisation. Modern work patterns make it difficult to get the cast all together but we manage,” he added.

In their current play, “AI vs Luddites,” historical sources are developed through original songs, video and dramatic reconstruction compares the challenges that faced weavers at the start of the industrial revolution with the challenges workers face today as new technology, which could free people from the slavery of mundane work is, once again, controlled by unscrupulous capitalists to erode people’s working conditions, surveil them and threaten the environment.

Currently the Red Shed Players are also presenting In The Darkness An Angel Came, written in collaboration with women seeking asylum and Wakefield District City of Asylum. The piece gives voice to people who are being scapegoated for the failures of capitalism and exposes the truth of Labour’s cruel immigration system.

“On Refugee Day last year we perform to a marvellously diverse audience at Wakefield Friends Meeting House where the piece was supported by musician Mary Black.

“It prompted a member of the audience — a Turkish woman — to deliver an extremely powerful poem about her experience of being jailed by repressive regimes, first in Turkey and later England,” said cast member Cath Mac Clean.

The Players is negotiating further performances of the play in libraries, churches and mosque community rooms.

Like so many art forms, theatre has been degraded into an empty spectacle to be received passively by audiences as another distraction from the realities of their lives.

Chloe Moore, most recent recruit to the Players, reflected: “The media is dominated by billionaires, the government is clamping down on protest, being part of a group who meet, discuss, make sense of the world and share our truths with others is empowering and gives a sense of agency. As Brecht had it, ‘Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it’.”

AI vs Luddites will be performed on January 11 at Glossop Labour Club, and February 21 at Shakespeares Pub Sheffield as a fundraiser for Medical Aid for Palestinians and S6 Foodbank respectively. For more details see: redshedplayers.co.uk.

For bookings: redshedplayers@yahoo.com.