These Shining Lives, a beautiful, moving and powerful play based on the true story of four women’s determination to see justice done, opens at The Green Room Theatre
These Shining Lives by Melanie Marnich is a powerful play based on the true story of four women who worked for the Radium Dial Company in the US during the late 1920s.
It follows their friendship, strength, and determination to see justice done.
The play runs at The Green Room Theatre in Wilmslow from Saturday 25th March to Saturday 1st April 2023.
Director Celia Bonner commented: “This wonderfully warm play highlights the growing friendship of a group of women and their strength when faced with a dreadful health diagnosis.
“It shows the shocking lack of seriousness or concern that many companies had for the health and wellbeing of their workers during the early to mid-part of 1900s.
“It is cases like this one that have led to the health and safety laws that we take for granted today, that should make the workplace safe for our generation.”
Tickets are now on sale via the theatre’s website: www.greenroomwilmslow.org.uk
Background…
In the early years of the last century, radium was all the rage.
There was radium face cream, radium cough medicine for children, even radium furniture polish.
One of the most popular uses for radium was as an ingredient in the paint used to draw the numbers on luminous clock and watch faces, to make them glow in the dark.
The painting of these numbers was mostly done by women.
To make the digits even finer, and to speed up the painting process, they licked the end of their paintbrushes, little realising the effect that the radium would have on their bodies.
The play…
Catherine Donohue is thrilled to get a well-paid job at the new clock factory, and her adoring husband Tom is fascinated by the way that his wife seems to glow when she comes home after a shift.
When Catherine and her work mates – Charlotte Purcell, Francis O’Connell and Pearl Payne – fall ill and are diagnosed with radium poisoning, they file a lawsuit against the company, who will not accept that radium is in any way dangerous.
A leading attorney accepts the case but they have a fight on their hands and the result is in the balance.
The cast…
The cast portaying this powerful story includes Meg Brassington, Madeleine Healey, Jess Trimble and Andy Neve.
In addition, The Green Room Theatre is delighted to be welcoming back John Keen (last seen as George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 2019) and Alexandra Johnson (last seen as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, 2011).
Support your local theatre…
Support your local theatre; and see These Shining Lives at The Green Room Theatre in Wilmslow.
- The play runs from Saturday 25th March to Saturday 1st April 2023
- No Sunday performance.
- Matinee on Saturday 1st April 2023
- Performance start times: evenings 7.45pm, matinee 2.30pm
- Call the box office ticket line: 01625 540 933
- Tickets cost: £10 for members, £12 full price.
- Saturday box office open on 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th March (11am to 12 noon)
- To find out more about The Green Room Theatre and how you can get
involved please email mail@greenroomwilmslow.org.uk
Photo: L-R: Alexandra Johnson (as Catherine Donohue) and Meg Brassington (as Charlotte Purcell)
