Red Ellen, Lyceum

Today's performance at the Lyceum was Red Ellen.  It's about the life of Ellen Wilkinson, the Labour MP for Middlesbrough East in 1924 and then Jarrow from 1935.  Wilkinson was a fascinating character who fought for many of the important causes of that era - she led the Jarrow March, campaigned for aid to fight against Franco's Fascists in the Spain, worked for women's suffrage.  She served as a Junior Minister in Churchill's wartime coalition cabinet and was Minister of Education in Clement Attlee's 1945  government.  Such a full life couldn't really be given justice in a couple of hours.