The need to revive the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ spirit to fight against today’s wage race to the bottom is continually implied in Neil Gore’s We Will Be Free!

The struggle for higher wages and the six mens’ impact on trade unionism is told through the upheaval caused to Betsy Loveless and the other wives of the farm labourers, who were transported in 1834 to Australia for swearing an oath as members of a secret society.

A two-hander that’s framed by a mummers show, it pitches the martyrs’ fight for fair pay on a par with the epic struggle of Saint George with the dragon.  This use of broadly comedic performance, with Gore and Charlotte Powell playing multiple roles, foreshadows the rest of the show.