The Lane Cove Theatre Company’s third production of the year, Radium Girls, is currently playing. The season runs until 25 August 2024 at The Performance Space at St Aidan’s in Longueville. Lane Cove Theatre Company invited ITC reporter Jack Kelly to review the play. Take it away, Jack…
The 1920s were roaring with an unprecedented decade of music and fashion. Playwright D W Gregory highlights another lesser-known 1920s issue through the tribulations of young female workers who become ill with radium poisoning from the paint they used to coat timepieces.
Directed by Kathy Petrakis, the production depicts the times when working-class safety standards were ignored and demonstrates the resilience of strong-willed women determined to sacrifice everything for the greater good of a better future.
But the performance begins far more modestly; three employees, Grace Fryer (Thea Ward), Kathyrn Schaub (Kate Boughen) and Irene Rudolph (Cinnamon Howearth) jest with one another, coating themselves with the unbeknown-toxic paint. The girls gossip about the recent death of a fellow worker, speculating syphilis to be the cause before being reprimanded by their eccentricity-played manager, Mrs Alma Macneil (Pauline Gardner) and told to place the brushes in their mouths to give them a fine tip – foreshadowing a terrible fate.
The men in the story primarily serve as antagonists in the plot. The production showcases their reckless disregard for the deadly consequences of radium, which could be due to a misguided sense of covering each other’s backs or simple ignorance.
The duality of man is evident throughout the production. Alan Long’s range includes Dr Von Sochocky, an initially optimistic German responsible for beginning the radium company who is later faced with the guilt of his actions, and Edward Markley, the same company’s unforgiving legal representative hellbent on disproving any radium poisoning suit made by women.
Mr Arthur Roeder (James Yeargain) is portrayed simply as an ambitious businessman eager to progress the company through the miracle wonders of radium as medicine. Only to learn of the chemical’s true effects on health as he traverses down a rabbit hole of lies and deception and battles with his own now uncertain set of morals.
The bond and attitude between Grace and Kathyrn intensify as the story progresses. A stellar performance by Thea Ward portrays Grace’s unruly and emotional pursuit of justice as she is diagnosed with a terminal illness due to radium poisoning, a far cry from the unsure and love-blind woman presented earlier.
At the same time, Kate’s convincingly saddened act shows a tragic shift in her personality. Kathyrn withers from an enthusiastic young chirp to a sickly shell as her world crumbles around her.
However, with their newfound determination and the assistance of the unrelenting human rights advocate Katherine Wiley (Cinnamon Howearth) Grace and Kathryn use the media to go toe to toe in a legal pursuit against their former employer in a devastating race against time.
Within the toxic air fumigated by the cover-ups of radium negligence to save face and money, D W Gregory presents a breeze of purification.
Radium Girls is a bittersweet story inspired by the true events of women who sculpted better workplace conditions for all in the wake of their tragedy. Ten talented cast members play around 30 different characters, performing expertly.
You will not regret seeing Lane Cove Theatre Company’s production of Radium Girls.
The play calls into focus corporate responsibility and environmental safety issues, which are just as important today.
The Play is by Arrangement with Origin Theatrical Australia.
Photographers – Robert Schaverien and Jim Crew, Lane Cove Creative Photography.
How to Book
9-25 August 2024 at The Performance Space @ St Aidan’s
1 Christina Street, Longueville
Tickets $30 / $25 conc / $23 groups 10+ / add $10 cheeseplate/$8 dessert plate
Online booking https://www.trybooking.com/CNBYI
Website: www.lanecovetheatrecompany.com
Other Lane Cove Theatre Company Productions in 2024
SHREK JNR
Music By Jeanine Tesori
Book and Lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire
8-24 November 2024
Find out more here.
Help Support Local and Independent News
You can support us in three ways:
- If you own a local business or a Lane Cove resident who owns a business you can advertise with ITC – our packages start from a $35 monthly fee (for a 12-month commitment). Please email us here for our rates card.
- Buy the ITC team a coffee – our office is nearly every coffee shop in Lane Cove, and we regularly meet locals at coffee shops – buy the ITC team a coffee (or two) here.
- Become an ITC reader sponsor – Feel free to be a reader sponsor if you have enjoyed our local news coverage – no amount is too small or too big. Thank you so much to the people who have already supported us via our press Patreon account. Help Us Here.
