THE REVLON GIRL – Written by Neil Anthony Docking; Directed by Madalyn Rilling. Produced by Springs Ensemble Theatre (Performed at the Fifty-Niner Speakeasy, 2409 West Colorado Avenue, Colorado Springs) through June 22. Tickets available at 719-357-3080 or SpringsEnsembleTheatre.org.
The first time you attend a SET show, it’s a little tentative. You find the address in Old Town . . . but it doesn’t look like a theatre. No marquee – just a brick storefront for a shop called Dice Guys. You enter through a crowd of tables inhabited by groups of people either riotous or in deep and silent thought, garbed all in black. That seems to be the classic uniform for Dungeons and Dragon warriors. The front half of the building is a gaming shop where you can play before you pay. You are guided through to the back of the room where a smiling Maitre de greets you and checks your name off his list. Then you are escorted to the “back room” or the home of SET. It is filled by tables and chairs, built in padded benches and a few pieces of comfortable furniture for the audience. The back third of the room is the stage where the magic happens.
THE REVLON GIRL starts out with the excited laughter of children as they enter their school for the last day of lessons before the half-term holiday. In a few seconds, those laughing voices are drowned out by the excruciating noise of a landslide crashing into and covering their classrooms. This is the true event that took the lives of 116 children and 28 adults in Aberfan, Wales in 1967. The students (half the children in the village) and their teachers were buried side by side in a mass grave several days later.
Our story starts eight months later when a small group of women gather in the community center to get a makeover from a representative from Revlon in an attempt to get their lives back on track. Each have lost children in the tragedy and are in deep grief. The thought is that anything that can take them out of their present state of mind for even a few minutes is worth trying. The Revlon girl didn’t really have any idea of what she was walking into.
Slowly, slowly, the various stories come out. Each of them has anger toward the “tourist attraction” their village has become. Each of them blames the mining company and the National Coal Board who knew of the danger but did nothing about it. Each of them grieves in their own way with either anger, bewilderment, or hope for the future. The women find community in sharing their feelings and circumstances with the stranger in their midst and, ultimately, with each other.
To be based on such a tragic event, the character of the women still provides a sort of black humor that only they are allowed to express. But the Revlon girl reveals a corresponding loss in her history that binds her to the women as well. They seem to leave the gathering in a closer, more comforting place than when they arrived.
This cast of five women did an extraordinary job of capturing all of the pathos of the situation. If I should see one on the street later, I would have consoled her on her loss without remembering that she was acting the story. Ellie Hinkle as Sian, with help from the absent Audrey, had pulled the meeting together in the hope that a makeover would make her attractive to her grieving husband again. JoLynn Minns as Marilyn has been grief-driven into mental confusion by losing both of her girls. The other women start the evening condescending to her fantasies of survival but end up comforting her. Rona is the outspoken angry member of the group, given life by Sarah Sheppard Shaver. The wife of the Vicar, she wants to take the settlement money offered by the NCB and get out of town. And Jean (Zoe Flack) hopes that the new baby she is carrying will help fill the hole left in her heart by the death of her son. Margaret Brophy plays the unfortunate Revlon Girl thrown into the midst of this scene of turmoil and pain.
The setting is a simple meeting room with a table for the demonstration makeup and a few chairs. The real setting is put in place by the opening sound effects, the amazing thunder and lightening effects as a storm breaks out overhead and the silences between the women. Lighting Designer Eric Bowlby and Sound Designer Daniel Robbins did a fine job of keeping the audience in the room with the women, yet aware of the world outside. Their Dialect Coach – Alysabeth Clements –Mosley – did an excellent job of helping the ladies with their Welsh accents.
Yes, it’s a jaunt down to the Springs to see a show. But you are missing out on what the excellent theatre community at our neighbors to the South are creating with their talent and imagination. It’s not much further than Candlelight or the Dairy Center and you know you go there all the time. Explore a little – find a new restaurant – try out a new environment for some fine theatre. You’ll be glad you did.
A WOW factor of 8.5!!