Scuttlers

Scuttlers were members of neighbourhood-based youth gangs (known as scuttling gangs) formed in working class areas of Manchester, Salford, and the surrounding townships during the late 19th century. It is possible to draw parallels with the London street gangs of the 1890s, whose behaviour was labelled hooliganism. The social commentator Alexander Devine attributed the gang culture to lack of parental control, lack of discipline in schools, "base literature" and the monotony of life in Manchester's slums.

Gangs were formed throughout the slums of central Manchester, in the townships of Bradford, Gorton and Openshaw to the east and in Salford, to the west of the city. Gang conflicts erupted in Manchester in the early 1870s and went on sporadically for thirty years, declining in frequency and severity by the late 1890s.

Dress

Scuttlers distinguished themselves from other young men in working-class neighbourhoods by their distinctive clothing. They generally wore a uniform of brass-tipped pointed clogs, bell-bottomed trousers, cut like a sailor's ("bells" that measured fourteen inches round the knee and twenty-one inches round the foot) and "flashy" silk scarves. Their hair was cut short at the back and sides, but they grew long fringes, known as "donkey fringes", that were longer on the left side and plastered down on the forehead over the left eye. Peaked caps were also worn tilted to the left to display the fringe. The scuttlers' girlfriends also had a distinctive style of dress consisting of clogs, shawl, and a vertically striped skirt.

Scuttlers (play)

Scuttlers is a stage production created by Rona Munro that depicts the 19th-century rivalry between street gangs in Manchester, England. While not strictly based on the exploits of real criminals, the drama is takes directly inspiration from the real-life criminal groups generically known as the 'scuttlers'. Set in 1895, the piece's plot follows the torn loyalties between members of the 'Bengal Street Tigers', who face a violent rivalry with the 'Prussia Street' gang as well as personal conflicts within their own group.

The play made its debut at the Royal Exchange Theatre on 5 February 2015. Wils Wilson, previously known for pieces such as Gastronauts and Praxis Makes Perfect, directed the production. The cast included performers Catriona Ennis, Chloe Harris, David Judge, Anna Krippa, and Rona Morison among others.

The production has received mixed to positive reviews from critics such as Lyn Gardner of The Guardian, who remarked that it featured "mills, thrills and soul", and Ian Shuttleworth of the Financial Times, who stated that it "fits in as many different vectors of relationship as a Shakespearean history play". Shuttleworth commented that he felt the audience does not "feel the seduction or the inevitability of the gang lifestyle", particularly its "unavoidable heavy cost". Yet he appreciated the "mechanistic, industrial power" of the stagecraft's depiction of Manchester city life.