The Women of Lockerbie

Women of Lockerbie, a play presented through the ISU theatre department, ran in early October of this year.  The story is based on the true story of events following a terrorist attack on a U.S. airplane that had exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. The eponymous women of Lockerbie as devoted to changing the minds of the U.S. government and their attempts to destroy the evidence (victims’ clothing most importantly) from the crash all these years later. The show introduces one specific family and their relentless attempt to find any shrewd of evidence as to what happened to their son during/after the crash. In the end, the women succeed to claiming the clothing of the victims and vow to wash all 11,000 pieces of clothing before returning them to the victims’ families to give closure to the families across the world.

The show was a drama, as opposed to a comedy, and the beginning of the show progressed rather slowly and the gaps between dialogues were dry and uninteresting at points. As the first act is used to give the plot, story background, and overall foundation, the development was very stretched…

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When I asked a random person what the play The Women of Lockerbie was about the description I received was women washing clothes. The Women of Lockerbie was a very interesting play. Although, I nodded off during the first half, it still caught my attention. In my opinion the play had a greater meaning. It began with a woman roaming the hills for her deceased son s remains from a plane crash. The plane crash was an act of terrorism that affected the members of the town Lockerbie. The victims of the terrorist attack were some of the children of the townsmen. The play depicted a silent grievance followed by a town’s collective distress. It was very moving because these people of this town experienced a tragedy with commendable attitudes. The women of Lockerbie were battling the government to return the clothes of the victims to their family to wash for closure. This unraveled anger and hatred because what happened to the innocent lives that were taken. I can’t imagine the courage it took for the town of Lockerbie to pick up the scattered remains of the victims from the crash; with the chance of the remains being their own children. I like this play because it turned an act of revenge and hatred into an act of love. I think that’s what the people of Lockerbie got out of washing the clothes of the victims. That’s why I would highly recommend this play to others.

-Brendan Lawler & Loriann Eldrige