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Spitfire Girls - Heroes of the skies

  • Amanda Burden
  • 12 hours ago
  • 2 min read
Spitfire Girls at the Birmingham REP. Photo by Ant Robling.
Spitfire Girls at the Birmingham REP. Photo by Ant Robling.

Spitfire Girls written by Katherine Senior. Presented by Tilted Wig and Mayflower Southampton. Running at The Birmingham REP from 16-21 June. Directed by Seán Aydon. Design by Sarah Beaton.

Review by Amanda Burden


Once on a lengthy train journey, I had the privilege of meeting a group of WRENS (Women’s Royal Naval Service) on their way home from a reunion. They were all in their 70s, with silvered hair and wrinkles. But when they got talking, the years slipped away and the pensioners vanished, to be replaced by twinkle-eyed teenagers full of the excitement of wartime dances and pranks.


I remembered this senior girl gang after watching Spitfire Girls, which tells the story of the female pilots whose heroic part in the war was often overlooked. The show follows the women who flew Spitfires, Hurricanes and other planes from the factories to the airfield, so they could be deployed in action.


We meet sisters Dotty and Bett (Laura Mathews and Katherine Senior) as they prepare to welcome in the 60s in the Spitfire pub. In true New Year’s Eve fashion the pair fall to reminiscing, revisiting the 40s when they first answered an advertisement to become pilots.


Elder sister Bett is practical and protective, while irrepressible Dotty is impulsive and exuberant. We watch as they navigate training, family quarrels and falling in love. Director Sean Ayton's stagecraft is innovative and energetic, effectively conveying the sense of freedom the girls feel as they take to the skies. Ok, the plot may be a little bit predictable but the depths of character portrayed by all the cast more than makes up for it.


Beyond the day-to-day wartime experiences lies the enduring sense of sisterhood. The girls face public censure from a society which is shocked at the prospect of women taking masculine roles, but together they pull through, giving each other strength and support. Like the WRENS I met all those years ago, these women shared a bond of experience and courage, forged from the knowledge of turning up for work and understanding every shift may be your last. Churchill once said of the RAF that ‘so much is owed by so many to so few.’


Spitfire Girls is a powerful reminder that ‘the few’ includes these women whose names should be honoured forever.


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