Cable Street musical – first look photos

Take a first look at the world premiere of new British musical Cable Street.

The piece, written by composer and lyricist Tim Gilvin and playwright Alex Kanefsky, tells the story of the people of London’s East End in 1936, focusing on three young workers: Sammy, a Polish Jew; Mairead, an Irish Catholic; and Ron, a Lancastrian Brit. The pivotal moment in their lives occurs on Sunday 4 October 1936, during the Battle of Cable Street, with the musical raising the question of which side the young protagonists and their families will be fighting for.

The Battle of Cable Street occurred when Sir Oswald Mosley announced his intention to lead thousands of fascist Blackshirt supporters into the heart of the Jewish community there. Despite the government’s failure to ban the march and the deployment of 7,000 Metropolitan police officers to protect the British Union of Fascists, the local workers, members of various communities, trade unionists, political activists, women, and children united to defend their diverse community, declaring “They Shall Not Pass.”

The cast is led by Danny Colligan (Dirty Dancing) as Ron, Sha Dessi (Les Misérables) as Mairead, and recent graduate Joshua Ginsberg as Sammy, alongside Debbie Chazen (Calendar Girls The Musical), Sophia Ragavelas (The Lion King), Jade Johnson (The Book of Mormon), Max Alexander-Taylor (The Lion), Aoife Mac Namara (Cable Street workshop), Sarah Leatherbarrow (Bombay Dreams), Ethan Pascal Peters (Showstopper! The Improvised Musical) and Jez Unwin (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). 

The creative team behind Cable Street includes director Adam Lenson, associate director Thyrza Abrahams, choreographer Jevan-Howard Jones, musical director Tamara Saringer, set designer Yoav Segal, costume designer Lu Herbert, lighting designer Sam Waddington, dramaturg Olivia Mace, casting director Sarah Leung, and producers Dylan Schlosberg’s 10 to 4 Productions and Neil Marcus.

Cable Street is set to have its opening night at Southwark Playhouse Borough on 26 February, and runs until 16 March 2024.

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