The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade
People attending the WISE Awards enjoyed this musical entertainment, based on pioneering engineer, Hertha Ayrton’s time at Cambridge University.
Helen Arney narrates the story of five groundbreaking women studying science at 1880s Girton College, Cambridge, who started a fire brigade to protect themselves but ended up fighting more than fires in a battle for equality.
Their Captain? The trailblazing physicist, inventor and social activist Hertha Ayrton, who in 1899 became the first woman member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers - now the IET.
Joined by a singer and pianist to perform highlights from this new musical, it’s a celebration of the power of friendship, rebellion, and choosing action over silence.
Helen Arney is a songwriter, science comedian and was recently nominated for the Stiles+Drewe “Best New Song” prize.
Brian Mackenwells is a writer and lyricist who has featured in kids poetry anthologies, and reached the final of the “Pen to Print” playwriting competition.
Jenni Pinnock is a British composer known for blending quirky time signatures, soaring melodies, and moments of stillness in both contemporary classical and musical theatre compositions.
Performers
Autumn 2026 solo concert cast:
Helen Arney
Helen is a songwriter, science presenter and recovering stand-up comedian. She’s been known to explain physics while riding a rollercoaster on BBC2, and tour the UK with science comedy phenomenon “Festival of the Spoken Nerd”. An alumni of Book, Music & Lyrics, Overture and Birmingham Hippodrome New Musical Theatre Writers Group, she now writes musicals in several collaborations. Alongside The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade, she is writing a show about Teenage Jiu Jitsu Suffragettes, currently in development with National Youth Music Theatre, and a cabaret concept musical about everything Charles Darwin got wrong about the female of the species. Helen was lucky enough to join a WISE course as a teenager. It was a turning point that helped her make the decision to study Physics at university, and the place she first met the person who would be her lab partner when they both began studying at Imperial College London together.
Felix Elliott
Felix is a music director, pianist and composer specialising in musical theatre – and a graduate of Girton College, Cambridge where this show is set. Most recently music supervising Habanera After Dark (Camden Fringe Festival), his other recent work includes depping keys on MJ (Prince Edward Theatre) and The Harder They Come (Stratford East), rehearsal piano for Ride the Cyclone (Southwark Playhouse), audition piano for Dark of the Moon(Charing Cross Theatre) and music copyist for Nero (Southwark Playhouse). Additionally, Felix has music-directed professional vocal group Leading Voices London since its inception in early 2025, and teaches on the Musical Theatre BA at MPAA Academy and Laine Theatre Arts. His writing credits include Antigone: the Musical! (co-composer, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022), The Herb Garden( creator/writer, Corpus Playroom 2023), and NewsRevue (co-writer, Canal Cafe Theatre 2024).
Noa Shakhar
Noa Shakhar is a London-based singer, songwriter, actress, and musical theatre performer. An internationally raised, multilingual performer, she is based in London, since 2019. She holds an MA in Musical Theatre from RCSSD and a BA in Vocals & Performance from BIMM London. Noa is a performing and recording artist as NOA SORELE. She has toured nationally with Motown/Soul group Her Soul, appeared in productions including Spring Awakening (Phoenix Arts Club) and Open Call (Courtyard Theatre). She was part of The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade at the Tsitsit Fringe Festival and is thrilled to return to this empowering production.