Strife - Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum

⟵ This production is part of our Past Seasons archive

Strife
by John Galsworthy

Ran June 21 – October 4, 2025 at our outdoor amphitheater

Synopsis:
What compromise is possible when human dignity and health are on the line, along with a business’s survival, and the economy it supports? It’s Capital versus Labor versus the Union at the climactic peak of a labor strike, with a resolution hanging in the balance. Nobel Prize-winning writer and activist John Galsworthy remarkably shows every point of view as the corporation and workers consider untenable options. 1890s Pennsylvania, amidst the industrial unrest and labor movements of America’s Gilded Age, sets the stage for Theatricum’s production of Galsworthy’s gripping story of human endurance, sacrifice, and the fragile balance between justice and compromise.

A Theatricum Past Production

What Critics Are Saying About "Strife"

THOUGHT-PROVOKING, EXCITING THEATRE FIERY & DYNAMIC AS COMPELLING AS IT IS TIMELY RIVETING THE STAKES ARE SO HIGH SO RELEVANT POWERFUL & MOVING

“Nuances make this play timeless, resonating with the audience as any contemporary story would do. The direction and acting give a memserizing new life to Strife, a play that reflected the struggles of the working class during the early stages of the industrial Revolution, but whose universal themes continue to echo the clamor for economic justice and faire balance in labor relations.”

"A nuanced look at class struggle… While Strife dramatizes a strike, it is not a simple, clearcut case of black and white, of Left vs. right, of labor vs. capital… [a] well-directed topical production.”

"An absolutely fascinating look at a time not all that different from the one we’re living in now where rich and poor are concerned, Strife proves as compelling as it is timely.”