Full casting & playtext publication announced for Spitfire Girls

A PLAY BY KATHERINE SENIOR INSPIRED BY REMARKABLE TRUE EVENTS AT THEATRE BY THE LAKE ON TUESDAY 25 – SATURDAY 29 MARCH AS PART OF A MAJOR UK TOUR IN SPRING 2025

Full casting is announced for the UK tour of Spitfire Girls, a play by Katherine Senior at Theatre by the Lake on Tuesday 25 – Sat 29 March following its premiere at MAST Mayflower Studios, Southampton on 20 March 2025. 

Presented by Tilted Wig and MAST Mayflower Studios and directed by Seán Aydon with design by Sarah Beaton, the Spitfire Girls team is proud to be working with the Royal British Legion.

The playtext of Spitfire Girls will be published by Concord Theatricals for their Samuel French Imprint and available to purchase from March 2025. 

Laura Matthews (One Man, Two Guvnors and London Assurance (National Theatre), Pride (Proud Films) will play ‘Dotty’ and Katherine Senior (The Rivals, Look Back in Anger, Travels with my Aunt all UK Tours) and Rosalind Steele (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (West End), The Provoked Wife and Venice Preserved (Royal Shakespeare Company); Shakespeare in Love (Bath Theatre Royal and Tour) will share the role of ‘Bett’. 

The cast will also feature Kirsty Cox (Our Church (The Watermill Theatre), The Odyssey and Medusa (Bristol Old Vic), as ‘Joy’, Jack Hulland (Travels With My Aunt, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Look Back in Anger (Creative Cow/UK Tours), The Adventures of a Bear called Paddington (Upstage Productions/UK Tour), as ‘Dad/Frank’ and Samuel Tracy (LIVES (Lowry Theatre) The Gruffalo’s Child (West End/National Tour), Billy Goats Gruff (Unicorn Theatre) as ‘Tom/Jimmy’.

Spitfire Girls is inspired by the extraordinary true stories of the women who dared to fly during WWII and the incredible bond that tied them together.  Funny and heart-warming, this is an untold story of strength, courage and loss. But above all else, hope. 

Marking the 80th Anniversary year of the end of World War II, the production has been developed with support from the National Theatre Generate Programme. 

“It’s built for us, isn’t it? The Spitfire. Built for women.”

New Year’s Eve, 1959. 

Decades after answering the call, two women separated by the war meet again as the rain hammers down on the windows of The Spitfire pub.  

As we hear their story, we’re transported back to a time when female pioneers defied expectations and soared through the skies. 

Recommended age 10+. The production will have lighting by Peter Small and original music composed by Eamonn O’Dwyer.