During World War II, a group of women defied expectations, taking to the skies to ferry vital aircraft. Their extraordinary true stories, marked by courage, loss, and unwavering hope, form the heart of Spitfire Girls. This new play, a co-production by Tilted Wig and MAST Mayflower Productions, is currently touring the UK, landing at Shakespeare North Playhouse from April 23rd-26th, 2025.
Liverpool Noise‘s Steve Kinrade sat down with actress and playwright Katherine Senior to delve into the inspiration behind these remarkable women, the journey of bringing their experiences to the stage, and the unique challenges of capturing the thrill of flight for a theatre audience…
Liverpool Noise: You mention in your press release that the idea sparked while touring in 2016. What specific aspect of the ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary) or women pilots initially captured your imagination and fueled the desire to develop it into a play?
Katherine Senior: I was amazed that I knew nothing about the women who flew for the ATA and I was equally blown away that women flew aircraft during the second world war. Why was this not more well known?! Then I immediately thought that this could be a really interesting thing to try to achieve on stage and so, my mind started to dream a little…
Liverpool Noise: With three young sons and a busy life, how did you manage to balance the extensive research, including meeting people and studying archives, with your parental responsibilities?
KS: This is such a great question! I suppose that’s why it’s been quite a long process. I just took any moment where I wasn’t changing nappies to dig around, reach out to people and set up meetings. When I went to the Isle of Wight in 2017 to meet ATA pilot Mary Ellis (was Wilkins) I took my six month old boy with me (he was a fairly chilled baby!) and he sat on her lap while she talked to me about her time in the ATA. I wrote lots of the scenes with significant noise and chaos around me, and perhaps that was the exact environment I needed!
Liverpool Noise: What particular qualities or actions of Pauline Gower’s leadership and vision do you find most compelling and how did you try to reflect that in the play?
KS: I think her tenacity and will to push women front and forward at a time they were expected to be quiet and in the shadows. The fact that she secured equal pay for the women in 1943 shows just how tenacious she was. She was an incredibly clever and strong woman whose life was cut short and in tragic circumstances. Although she doesn’t feature in the play (they’re all fictional characters) Her vision turned out to be the starting point for my play.
Liverpool Noise: What were the key considerations in creating fictional characters based on the ATA pilots, and how did you ensure they honoured the real women’s experiences?
KS: I always knew that I would use fictional characters because I felt that I could serve the many women’s stories better than focusing on a few of them. They’re a sort of collective representation of the Atta Girls. I was really keen on the two main characters to be inspired by the women who joined later, the women who had no experience of flying and who could fully embrace this huge adventure.
Liverpool Noise: How did meeting individuals like Candy Adkins and Mary Ellis shape your understanding of the women pilots’ personal experiences and contribute to the emotional core of the play?
KS: It was crucial. Because I needed the first hand experience from Mary to give me the inspiration to write fully formed “real” people. Something that had a beating heart at the centre of it and to take us deeper into the humanity of war.
Liverpool Noise: Katherine, you emphasizethe importance of human stories over historical facts. Can you give an example of a specific “human story” you discovered that significantly impacted the play’s narrative?
KS: There are so many snippets of real stories in the play. I’ve woven, in my own words, many of their descriptions of flying into the play. I do have a very specific story of Mary’s in there, when she flew the Wellington and the men didn’t believe that such a tiny woman could have done that.
Liverpool Noise: How did you approach the challenge of creating the feeling of flight on stage, and what theatrical techniques did you utilize to achieve this?
KS: We were very lucky to have a week at National Theatre Studio to explore the flying sequences and was inspired by theatre companies that use a lot of physicality to tell stories. It was a real balance to achieve it in this play as, in the main, it’s a very naturalistic piece, and so to suddenly have a huge set piece to show the flying was a very considered piece of storytelling.
Liverpool Noise: You describe the play as a “good ol’ fashioned love story.” What kind of “love” are you exploring in the play, and how does it relate to the themes of camaraderie and resilience?
KS: Without giving anything away. It’s a love story on a couple of levels. There is the love story of a classic 1940’s film, I suppose…but the true love story is between the two central women, the bond that ties them together and the adventures they have.
Liverpool Noise: While hoping to inspire young girls, you also aim to inspire your sons. What specific messages do you hope male audiences will take away from Spitfire Girls about the contributions of women in history?
KS: That young boys could equally have female role models. Certainly in my house, their role models and heroes are all football players and I am sad to say, none of them are female. It’s such a huge shift that needs to happen and I don’t pretend I can do it with my little play. But it’s a language thing, isn’t it? The old fable about the Dad who took his son to the hospital, and when he got there, the doctor said I can’t work on this boy, he is my son. It still takes a fair while for people to realise that the doctor is, in fact, a woman! And that is around our everyday language. If we can instill in young boys that women have as strong a thread through history and deserve equal recognition, then the default language might shift; my boys may just refer to the little spider crawling up the wall as a she rather than a he…!
Spitfire Girls
23 – 26 April 2025
Shakespeare North Playhouse
Tickets
