A NEW play performed by teenagers proposes a statue of local heroine Violette Szabo outside Hereford’s Shire Hall.

The statue currently in situ is of Victorian county MP George Cornewall Lewis.

And the play The Empty Plinth puts forward the WWII agent – who has a museum dedicated to her in Wormelow, in the former home of her uncle where she often stayed – as a potential replacement.

Unveiled by British Prime Minister Palmerston in 1864, the seven-foot-tall bronze statue of Lewis was toppled unceremoniously from its plinth in 2001, and had to be repaired before being refixed.

However, the ‘empty plinth’ scenario is the subject of a new play in which British-French Special Operations Executive agent Szabo – whose story was told in the 1958 film Carve Her Name With Pride, starring Virginia McKenna – is one of five exceptional women from Herefordshire’s history brought back to life.

The short and lively production features funny and moving moments involving the WWII heroine, alongside King Charles II favourite Nell Gwyn, Lady Brilliana Harley, Sarah Siddons and Elsie Abel, who share their stories as actresses, heroines and a Canary Girl.

The play was commissioned by Bartonsham History Group as its contribution to Hereford History Day, which was themed to celebrate some of the city’s unsung heroes, and was performed at Hereford Town Hall, Callow Parish Hall and Bartonsham Scout Hut.

The cast were all local teenagers – Elsa Bennett played Violette Szabo, Iona Wilkins played Nell Gwyn, Amma Brewer-Arrall was Brilliana Harley, April Sainz-Royo portrayed Elsie Abel and Tilda Mason took on the role of Sarah Siddons.

George Pilkington and Josh Hoar also played a number of different parts in the production.

The play was written and directed by Paul Murray, who has a career in theatre and education, and has written extensively for young companies.

Rosemary Rigby, who founded the Violet Szabo museum in her own home after discovering the house’s connection with the WWII agent, was invited to the production at Callow Parish Hall and said afterwards: “The play was very interesting and the beret the young actress wore as Violette was a nice touch.

“I was also very appreciative that the poem, The Life That I Have written by Leo Marks and dedicated to Violette, was included in the play and delivered with the sensitivity it deserved.”

● Violette Szabo was a British-French Special Operations Executive agent during the Second World War and a posthumous recipient of the George Cross. On her second mission into occupied France, Violette was captured by the German army, interrogated, tortured, and deported to a concentration camp in Germany, where she was executed.

● Nell Gwyn was an English stage actress and celebrity figure of the Restoration period. Praised by Samuel Pepys for her comic performances as one of the first actresses on the English stage, she became best known for being a long-time mistress of King Charles II of England. She is likely to have begun her acting career at the Hereford Theatre.

● Lady Harley Brilliana, was a 17th century heroine in the English Civil War who, in the absence of the men of her family, defended her husband’s castle at Brampton Bryan from Royalist forces. In doing so she became a wartime heroine, her death being mourned by friend and foe alike for her courage under great adversity.

● Sarah Siddons was a 19th century actress, best-known for her ‘tragedienne’ of the 18th century.  She was most famous for her portrayal of the Shakespeare character Lady Macbeth, a character she made her own.

● Elsie Abel was a ‘jailbird’ imprisoned after a city demo in 1918, triggering protests from MPs and trade unions. She also saved the Rotherwas National Filling Factory from an explosion giving her the ‘Canary Girl’ title for working with munitions during the Second World War.