REVIEW: THE DROWNING GIRLS by Beth Graham at Bridge House Theatre, Tuesday 14 – 18 November 2023

‘a confident, stylish introduction’ ★★★

The space is dressed like a Victorian bathroom, with festoons of lacy fabric, huge mirrors, a bathtub, and three drowned girls. It is a confident, stylish introduction to this ghost (ish) story. It looks eerie and strange and sets in motion a story of murder and deceit and cruelty, told by the victims, giving them a voice. It’s very neat.

In the early years of the twentieth century, a ne’er-do-well called George Joseph Smith discovered that bigamously ‘marrying’ vulnerable women was a handy route in to stealing their property. He subsequently finessed this game plan by making them take out life insurance with him as the beneficiary, and then staging an ‘accident’ causing their death. Three times he did this. The play offers his three victims the opportunity to tell their story, to confront their murderer.

This is where the precedence of style over character becomes a problem. The three actors have no chance to offer any clear individual story because they are too busy being wraiths. They also get to play various other characters including George Joseph Smith. The play cries out for the presentation of individual, relatable, comprehensible people. They remain throughout little more than Victims One, Two, and Three.

This is a fault of the script and of the direction, not the three actors. The problem the actors have is a limited number of responses, one of which is shrill hysteria. The absence of shade, of subtler registers, makes the drama of a forensic re-enaction of their murders less telling.

The three young women work very hard, they look fantastic, they sing beautifully. They are not given much chance, by script or by direction, to develop characters. The production becomes an exercise in style rather than substance, and that’s a pity. There is talent and imagination to burn on the stage and in the design.

Box Office https://thebridgehousetheatre.co.uk/shows/the-drowning-girls/

Cast

ANAMIKA SRIVASTAVA Margaret Lofty

YILING YANG Bessie Mundy

QI CHEN Alice Burnham

Artistic Team

Director

RANGA JAYARATNE

Writer

BETH GRAHAM, CHARLIE TOMLINSON, DANIELLA VLASKALIC

Designer

RANGA JAYARATNE

Reviewed by Chris Lilly