Factory Girls, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, at the Chopin Theatre. Like Frank McGuinness’s best-known work–the earnest if somewhat trying hostage drama Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me–his play about Irish textile workers who take over their employers’ Donegal office is an appealing actors’ vehicle. But here McGuinness’s characters aren’t chained to a wall, which allows for more physical and emotional interaction. Still, both works have a certain discursive, open-ended quality that somewhat dulls their impact. The conflicts between workers and management in Factory Girls sometimes feel mechanical, but the camaraderie he develops between his five well-drawn female characters is affecting and infectious; when they gather for a sit-in that’s like a drunken slumber party, the scene is pervaded by both hilarity and desperation.
