Sunbeam Girls 2 goes far beyond the original

Instead of reviving the original show, director Marian Wyatt chose to make an even more ambitious play, says Colette Sheridan

SIXTIES nostalgia and JFK’s visit to Cork form the backdrop to The Sunbeam Girls 2, which runs at the Cork Opera House from September 20-24. Director of the show, Marian Wyatt, hopes it will draw in the large audiences that The Sunbeam Girls attracted in 2007.

Despite the title of the new show, The Sunbeam Girls 2 is a prequel. The Sunbeam Girls, based on interviews with former employees of Cork’s Sunbeam Woolsey textiles plant in Blackpool, was set in 1968 while the latest offering from Wyatt is set in 1963.