True-life LGBTQ+ musical GWENDA’S GARAGE to play Sheffield Theatres and Southwark Playhouse
Photo credit: Mark Senior
Bold new British musical GWENDA’S GARAGE, written by Nicky Hallett, with music by musician and composer Val Regan, is set to play at Sheffield’s Tanya Moiseiwitsch Playhouse from 15-25 October and Southwark Playhouse Borough from 30 October-29 November, it has been announced.
An exuberant call to arms filled with humour, heart, and original songs, GWENDA’S GARAGE celebrates working-class women, lesbians, and the power of collective action.
Created by an all-lesbian team of writers and composers, the show draws on oral histories from the founders of GWENDA’S GARAGE, and women who fought to make space for themselves in a hostile world.
The musical is based on a true story. The real Gwenda’s Garage was founded in 1985 in Sheffield, South Yorkshire by three women mechanics: Ros Wollen (aka Roz), Annette Williams, and Ros Wall. They defied the odds in a male-dominated field, by establishing their own repair workshop in what was then a run-down area of the city. Named after Gwenda Stewart, a pioneering, record-breaking racing driver, the garage became a hub for women’s education and activism alongside the day-to-day of car repairs.
The story follows mechanics, Bev, Carol and Terry, their apprentice Dipstick, and ally Feona, as they fight Section 28 and advocate the right to live free from prejudice, creating space for women and LGBTQ+ rights. In 2025, as Queer rights continue to be challenged across the world, this rousing new musical based on real life events couldn’t be speeding on to stage at a timelier moment.
Join these unstoppable women as they dismantle the patriarchy one spark plug at a time.