by Sarah Becker
The wonderful thing about theatre is that everyone takes something different from it. I went along to see The Playhouse Theatre’s amateur production of The Revlon Girl with former makeup artist Jules Osmany, who was instantly drawn to the show’s belief in the transformative power of red lipstick to uplift the soul. Known on Instagram as Red Lippy Jules, it’s perhaps no surprise she resonated deeply with that theme.
Listen to the conversation sparked by the play here:
By contrast, what stood out most to me was the play’s Calendar Girls-esque quality—ordinary women brought together by extraordinary circumstances, drawing strength from community. But unlike the feel-good fundraising of Calendar Girls, this play, directed by Corinna Leeder, grapples with the heavy weight subject of grief.
Set eight months after the Aberfan disaster of 1966—when a wave of coal mine debris swept down onto a Welsh village, burying 116 children and 28 adults in a local primary school—The Revlon Girl follows a group of bereaved mothers who meet regularly to help each other cope with their unimaginable losses.
Into this circle comes a well-meaning Revlon representative (played by Michaela Clement-Hayes), sent to give beauty advice but who, despite good intentions, keeps putting her foot in it. I remembered Michaela as the paranoid mother of twins in The Masque’s Blood Brothers, and she gave another solid performance here.
Sian (played by Dianne Wyman) opened the play confidently as the organiser of the mothers’ meeting. Her warmth and energy shone through in the first half, as did her great Welsh accent! The cast all delivered believable Welsh accents, from an English ear at least! which added authenticity to the characters. During the play, each woman’s personality and pain unfolded, erupting in moments of raw anger, sadness, and gallows humour.
Georgina Pearson played Rona, the angry, foul-mouthed member of the group, while Nicky Bunting brought quiet intensity to the more introverted Marilyn. A standout moment came just before the interval, when Marilyn delivered a haunting monologue recounting the moment she rushed to the school in a desperate search for her children which painted a visual picture of the unfolding tragedy told from a deeply personal perspective.
I also appreciated the way Sian’s character evolved. What began as a warm and practical presence shifted to something much more complex in the second half, particularly during her monologue about her husband’s struggle to cope with the disaster and their marriage.
Jean played with aplomb by Paula Fraser reveals the traditional solace of religion as a way of dealing with grief.
While the tone grew more sombre as each woman’s story was revealed, I personally found the first half more compelling—perhaps because the script by Neil Anthony Docking, was punctuated by the sharper injections of humour that offered moments of light in the dark. I wasn’t quite as emotionally pulled in by the grief as perhaps I should have been in the second half. Jules, however, found those scenes deeply moving and said they left her feeling reflective.
The staging was simple, and aside from the movement of props in and out, the play takes place entirely within a single function room, allowing the focus to remain on the characters and their interactions.
The Revlon Girl, by The Playhouse theatre , now in their new home at Christchurch Hall, runs until Saturday 28th June. Tickets are available online https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/northampton/christchurch-hall/the-revlon-girl-by-neil-anthony-docking/e-vxagbm or on the door.