Introduction

My First Job 1984    Introduction by Pam Schweitzer

This was a group-devised show created by the cast from recorded interviews with groups and individuals. Older people were contacted through the press and by invitation to share their memories of starting work back in the 1920s and 30s.

Actors and director shared the best material from the interview period and wove it into a script reflecting all the highs and lows of the job scene experienced by young workers.

Most of the interviewees had left school at fourteen, and were keen to start earning their own money and entering the adult world. Parents were in need of the extra earnings their children could bring in, and most children were expected to contribute a good percentage of their meagre pay to supplement the family budget.  Those who went into domestic service (a very common source of employment then) no longer had to be fed at home. Families were large, often with many children living in cramped accommodation and needing to be fed and clothed, so landing a live-in job for their fourteen year old child was a good outcome. Mothers and fathers often helped their children to find work, taking them to be interviewed and speaking up for them.

Many youngsters went into apprenticeships, where they worked long hours for pocket money. They acquired skilled work in the building trade, the docks, or as butchers boys, and for girls, there were apprenticeships in millinery and dress-making. These apprenticeships were often very exploitative with youngsters doing quite heavy or dangerous work and tedious tasks. Employers seeking to avoid paying National Insurance often ‘let their young workers go’, when they reached sixteen and took on new fourteen year olds instead.

There were jobs for girls in shops and factories, but they could be sacked for the smallest of mistakes, as there were plenty waiting to replace them. Once married, young women were laid off, so a young woman’s working life often lasted just a few years. The men they married expected to provide for their families, and sending the wife out to work raised many issues around pride and independence. Married women were expected to shop for and cook midday meals for husbands and children, and shopping and cooking took a lot longer than it does today.

The show ‘My First Job’ was a great success with our target audience of older people, prompting many hilarious stories. It was also performed in schools to pupils of fifteen to sixteen, followed by a discussion with one or more of the pensioners who had contributed to the show.

The show was first performed in 1984 with the following cast:

Angela Bain, Amanda Carlton, Steve Gribbin, Philip Judge, and Robert West. Direction was by Pam Schweitzer, Musical Direction by Marylin Gordon, Designer Hector Morales, Stage and Company Manager Arthur Watt

The second cast were: Christopher Downing, Tegolin Knowland, Alex Martin, Charles Wegner, with Arthur Watt Directing and Design by Rebecca Price.