The Revlon Girl review, Park Theatre 90

The Revlon Girl is set in the village of Aberfan, eight months after a giant slurry tip engulfed the local school killing 116 children and 28 adults. A group of bereaved mothers have been invited to a make-up demonstration in the village hall. Some burn bright with fury. Others are trying to find meaning in the deaths through God and the afterlife. Can The Revlon Girl cleanse, polish, and use her bag of magic tricks to give them a glimpse of a better tomorrow?

Neil Anthony Docking's play is a beautifully judged piece. Heart-searing moments are finely balanced with humour, hope, and invective. Sian, who's organised the event, wants to find a way to reconnect with the husband who can no longer look at her. Jean is unable to feel anything for the daughter who survived or the unplanned child who's on the way. Marilyn is visiting mediums and seeing portents of doom in the drawings of her dead child. Rona is galvanised by grief. Alive with rage she plans to hit the Coal Board in the only place where they hurt - the pocket.

The Revlon Girl is about survival and how we have to march on. How should the life force express itself: through political lobbying, through new life, through love, through anger, through despair, or through denial? Inevitably, there is much to laugh at in The Revlon Girl and the richly drawn characters make every minute count.  The only blip is that Docking doesn't quite know what to do with The Revlon Girl herself. Although based on real events, the role is a device for drawing out the stories of the bereaved, and when she herself tells a tale, it doesn't ring true or sit right.

In conclusion: Cracking performances from Antonia Kinlay, Charlotte Gray, Zoe Harrison, Michelle McTernan and Bethan Thomas touch the heart, and the dialogue crackles with tension. The Revlon Girl is life-affirming, even as it examines the aftermath of a most terrible and unforgivable tragedy. Based on a real story and timely after Grenfell, it is deeply moving.


The Revlon Girl, Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, London N4 5JP    Run ends October 14