The Girls of Slender Means Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh17th April Review
Image Credits Mihaela Bodlovic
The Girls of Slender Means is at the Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh from 13 April to 4 May, and if you are a fan of the work of Muriel Spark then this stage adaptation of her 1963 novel is one show that has to be on your go to see list.
If you are not familiar with the story or the work of Muriel Spark, then don’t let that put you off going to “The Girls of Slender Means” as in the hands of writer Gabriel Quigley and director Roxana Silbert this is a wonderful work for theatre full of humour and the sheer joy of life touched with sadness at the most unexpected of moments. It is also, courtesy of designer Jessica Worrall an evocative re-creation of the immediate post war years of the 1940s, in particular that period between VE day and VJ day. Jessica Worrall’s dedicated attention to period costumes and other details is impressive and the amount of time it must have taken to get everything for these girls of slender means just right from their shoes, to their dresses/outfits, hairstyles and make-up must have been a major research project in itself. Special credit also has to go to the Lyceum costume department for bringing these wonderful designs into life on stage.
The costumes and a careful use of an at times minimalist set work well here because again that attention to period detail is so well done, and skilful writing and direction so often makes you imagine that there is far more to this stage set than you are seeing in your immediate field of vision. The very clever use of “male partners” for the girls to dance with in one scene is full of humour and I will leave the surprise of how this is achieved for people to find out when they go to this show.
Who exactly are “The Girls of Slender Means”? The answer to that is on the surface of things obvious, but underneath, as the layers are peeled away, very distinctive individuals start to emerge and the one thing that really binds them all together is that, here as in so many other areas of the war, people from very different regional, social, economic, religious and educational backgrounds have been brought together, and worlds that which otherwise might have remained very separate from one another in the post war years are now blending together into something new. Will this new world and the new opportunities that it presents, particularly for women, last in the peacetime years that are ahead, will the struggles and many personal losses of family and friends that so many people endured throughout the war have been worth it all in the end? There are some very big questions asked in this work, and for the most part they have no answers, only the hope that things will get better.
With a script that defines each of these woman so well as individuals, you then need the right cast to bring “The Girls of Slender Means” to life on stage, a cast of people who can not only create very individual women, but also make you believe that they have all become friends who are now, due to the rationing of everything, particularly clothes and food, equal in a way that would have been impossible pre-war. Here in this production that cast is just right and completely believable on stage.
There are no weaknesses in any performances here and Julia Brown (Selina Redwood), Amy Kennedy (Anne Markham), Molly McGrath (Joanna Childe), Molly Vevers (Jane Wright) and Shannon Watson (Pauline Fox) seem perfectly cast for their respective roles, as does Seamus Dillane as Nicholas Farringdon, the man who not only disrupts the harmony of the women’s collective lifestyle in the 1940s but also connects this story with its 1963 opening time-frame and those seemingly now far off years of nearly 20 years past. Of course the only true object of desire that connects all of these women together is a fabulous pink Schiaparelli gown and their biggest problem in life is deciding whose turn it is to wear it. This opening and closing (almost like bookends) time framing of this work also gives us an insight into the women that “The Girls of Slender Means” were to become. Did dreams come true?
This production is one of those rare events where everything, including cast, script, direction, design lighting, music and sound all come together seamlessly with the immortal “A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square” setting the period soundscape perfectly too.
Although we are told here that during the war everyone was poor, that of course is untrue as although rationing did act as a social leveller for much of society, I am sure that your war experience was still enormously changed by how much wealth and where you lived, and returning to a comfortable life-style post war was maybe a little easier than enduring the many shortages (particularly housing) that existed for decades to come. After all, how many people had access by any means to a fabulous pink Schiaparelli gown?
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
If you are not familiar with the story or the work of Muriel Spark, then don’t let that put you off going to “The Girls of Slender Means” as in the hands of writer Gabriel Quigley and director Roxana Silbert this is a wonderful work for theatre full of humour and the sheer joy of life touched with sadness at the most unexpected of moments. It is also, courtesy of designer Jessica Worrall an evocative re-creation of the immediate post war years of the 1940s, in particular that period between VE day and VJ day. Jessica Worrall’s dedicated attention to period costumes and other details is impressive and the amount of time it must have taken to get everything for these girls of slender means just right from their shoes, to their dresses/outfits, hairstyles and make-up must have been a major research project in itself. Special credit also has to go to the Lyceum costume department for bringing these wonderful designs into life on stage.
The costumes and a careful use of an at times minimalist set work well here because again that attention to period detail is so well done, and skilful writing and direction so often makes you imagine that there is far more to this stage set than you are seeing in your immediate field of vision. The very clever use of “male partners” for the girls to dance with in one scene is full of humour and I will leave the surprise of how this is achieved for people to find out when they go to this show.
Who exactly are “The Girls of Slender Means”? The answer to that is on the surface of things obvious, but underneath, as the layers are peeled away, very distinctive individuals start to emerge and the one thing that really binds them all together is that, here as in so many other areas of the war, people from very different regional, social, economic, religious and educational backgrounds have been brought together, and worlds that which otherwise might have remained very separate from one another in the post war years are now blending together into something new. Will this new world and the new opportunities that it presents, particularly for women, last in the peacetime years that are ahead, will the struggles and many personal losses of family and friends that so many people endured throughout the war have been worth it all in the end? There are some very big questions asked in this work, and for the most part they have no answers, only the hope that things will get better.
With a script that defines each of these woman so well as individuals, you then need the right cast to bring “The Girls of Slender Means” to life on stage, a cast of people who can not only create very individual women, but also make you believe that they have all become friends who are now, due to the rationing of everything, particularly clothes and food, equal in a way that would have been impossible pre-war. Here in this production that cast is just right and completely believable on stage.
There are no weaknesses in any performances here and Julia Brown (Selina Redwood), Amy Kennedy (Anne Markham), Molly McGrath (Joanna Childe), Molly Vevers (Jane Wright) and Shannon Watson (Pauline Fox) seem perfectly cast for their respective roles, as does Seamus Dillane as Nicholas Farringdon, the man who not only disrupts the harmony of the women’s collective lifestyle in the 1940s but also connects this story with its 1963 opening time-frame and those seemingly now far off years of nearly 20 years past. Of course the only true object of desire that connects all of these women together is a fabulous pink Schiaparelli gown and their biggest problem in life is deciding whose turn it is to wear it. This opening and closing (almost like bookends) time framing of this work also gives us an insight into the women that “The Girls of Slender Means” were to become. Did dreams come true?
This production is one of those rare events where everything, including cast, script, direction, design lighting, music and sound all come together seamlessly with the immortal “A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square” setting the period soundscape perfectly too.
Although we are told here that during the war everyone was poor, that of course is untrue as although rationing did act as a social leveller for much of society, I am sure that your war experience was still enormously changed by how much wealth and where you lived, and returning to a comfortable life-style post war was maybe a little easier than enduring the many shortages (particularly housing) that existed for decades to come. After all, how many people had access by any means to a fabulous pink Schiaparelli gown?
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com