The Last Testament of Lilian Bilocca

Hull Truck Theatre and Hull UK City of Culture 2017 open The Last Testament of Lillian Bilocca, a new production written by Maxine Peake especially for the fourth season of Hull 2017. This unique site responsive piece charts Lillian Bilocca and her crew of head-scarfed women as they campaigned for fishing industry reform during the 1960s.

Twenty local volunteers are performing in the show as the community company alongside the acting company and band. They will help to bring the performance to life through a series of dance and movement sequences, led by Co-director/Choreographer Imogen Knight and Associate Movement Director Jon Beney. The community company were recruited through a series of workshop auditions.     

The community company are playing several characters in the show, including a group of trawler owners, local fishermen, women from the Hessle Road community, and dancers at the Silver Cod Ball - the trawler owners’ annual slap on the back.

Almost half of the community company are Hull 2017 volunteers who wanted to play an active part in a production during 2017, and there are a mixture of people who have previous performance experience and those who have never performed in a theatre production before. A few members of the community company have personal links to the fishing industry, including one member who met Lillian Bilocca whilst working in the fish processing factory on West Dock Street, Hull.

The community company are Rachael Abbey, Tim Allison, Joe Beckett, Martin Bott, John Cant, Andy Hammond, Zoë Jones, Sirgius Mchunu, Syeda Nudrat, Vicki Pellatt, Pauline Phillips, Mandy-Lee Porteous, Lei Qian, Shaun Rennison, Rob Spivey, Elizabeth Stanforth-Sharpe, Brian Swallow, Graham Till, David Turner and David Wilberforce.

They are joined by four members of Hull Truck Theatre’s 8 – 10 Youth Theatre.

This site-specific performance will lead audiences through Hull’s historic Guildhall, the Grade II listed home of Hull City Council. It sees Maxine Peake reunite with regular collaborator Sarah Frankcom and features a live musical score from celebrated folk artists Adrian McNally and The Unthanks.

Follow Hull hero Lillian Bilocca and her crew of head-scarfed women through the Guildhall, joining them in 1968 as they dare to speak out and take action to improve the safety conditions for their men at sea. Witness the Three Day Millionaires’ riotous return home from the wet and wild west, and dance at the ghostly Silver Cod Ball, the trawler owners’ annual slap on the back. Become part of their story as it unfolds and immerse yourself in Hull’s fishing community. Celebrate the vivid and dangerous lives of its trawler men and unite against the feudal power of the ship owners.

Written by Maxine Peake, directed by Sarah Frankcom and Imogen Knight, and with an original live score by folk’s finest - The Unthanks - this unique site-specific production will take audiences on an unforgettable journey using music, storytelling, movement and performance to celebrate an inspirational period in Hull’s history and a force for change that resonated far beyond the city. It’s time to tell the world.

Lillian Bilocca rallied the women of Hull’s close-knit fishing community into fighting for better conditions for men at sea, following the Triple Trawler Tragedy of 1968 in which 58 men were lost in just three weeks. Amongst their demands, the women wanted radio operators on board every trawler and an end to men having to supply their own bedding and clothing. They drew together a petition which attracted 10,000 signatures in just 3 days. Lillian and her fellow women were dubbed the ‘Headscarf Revolutionaries’, taking their fight all the way from the docks in Hull to the Houses of Parliament. Their campaign became headline news around the world and paved the way for better working conditions across the fishing industry. A mural to honour Lillian Bilocca and the ‘Headscarf Revolutionaries’ was unveiled on Hessle Road in Hull last year, which had once been the heart of the city’s fishing community.