The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade

The first known image of Girton College Fire Brigade, 1880. Hertha is on the right, holding a bucket. Image courtesy of the Mistress and Fellows of Girton College, Cambridge

It’s been an extraordinary weekend, watching a full production of our musical by 18 students in the second year of study at University of Lincoln Musical Theatre department. They were absolutely brilliant, and we learnt so much from working with them and their creative team over several months of rehearsals and workshops.

We’ll update this blog with some production photos, a link to the PDF programme and hopefully a few videos of their brilliant performances very soon.

But in the meantime, here’s the programme note written by director Clare Chandler, who worked tirelessly together with the students, choreographer Clare Allen-Evans and musical director James Fox, to bring this show to life for the first time. We get quite emotional when we read it back, and hope it does the same to you!

Directors’ note, by Clare Chandler.

Workshops can be bittersweet. Years ago, I saw a workshop performance of a show that left me with an earworm I couldn’t shake (I can still sing it now), only to discover, when I contacted the writers for the sheet music, that the number had been cut. A musical is never truly finished. It shifts and changes, bearing the fingerprints of everyone who has worked on it, until it is finally ‘frozen’. Which is what makes workshopping one so addictive.

I first became aware of “The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade: at Birmingham Hippodrome’s New Musicals Showcase. The potential of this fierce, fiery, feminist show was immediately evident, and I knew our students would love it as much as I did. Then I discovered the Lincoln connection. Charlotte Scott was born in this city in 1858, and the university’s Charlotte Scott Building is named in her honour. How could we not?

Workshopping a new musical is thrilling. Knowing that our voices will echo in the work alongside Hertha, Annie, Ethel, Ida, and Charlotte is a privilege, and working with Jenni, Helen, and Brian has been an absolute joy. Every new song or scene landing in our inbox over the past twelve weeks has helped us craft this story and pay homage to these incredible characters. Jenni, Helen, and Brian have given us space to explore, answered every question we threw at them, and kept us thoroughly entertained. Jenni nailing a fireman’s knot on camera and Helen and Brian’s TikTok break dancing debut are highlights we won’t forget in a hurry.

In an early workshop, the writers asked us to consider which member of the Fire Brigade we each are. Over the course of rehearsals, we found synergies and connections with these women that we never anticipated. And we hope you will too.

This production sits within a broader conversation. Building on the Lincoln Arts Centre’s “In Her Words” season, our Summer of Musicals is dedicated almost entirely to women’s stories, written and created predominantly by women. “The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade” could not fit more perfectly.

We are sad to say goodbye, but so excited to share this show with you and watch where it goes next.