The Shadow Factory is an ambitious new play to open a new venue and it is a great credit to the artistic director of the Nuffield Sam Hodges to take a little known local story and turn it into an glorious new play about life in Southampton at a critical time in the Second World War. It is little wonder that Howard Brenton should be excited about the research to take on the writing of the story and then 59 Productions inspired to create an innovative and fresh staging design that brings the story to life.
The story starts in September 1940 with the bombing of the Supermarine factory in Woolston where the critical Spitfires were being designed , developed and built and the loss of capacity threatens the essential aerial defences that the RAF provided . Urgent calls between the factory manager Len Gooch and Lord Beaverbrook at the Ministry of Aircraft Production in Whitehall are made to assess the damages and establish how to get back into production. Gradually the plan to create a dispersed shadow factory is developed spread over thirty five venues around the city which need to be requisitioned but meets local residents resistance to giving up their property.
