The Girls of Slender Means, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh Review
Molly Vevers and Shannon Watson as Pauline Fox in The Girls of Slender Means. Photo by Mihaela BodlovicReviewed by Sarah for Theatre and Tonic.
*Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in return for an honest review
The Girls Of Slender Means adapted for the stage by Gabriel Quigley, and directed by Roxana Silbert, is an infectious salute to Muriel Spark’s literary genius, including her unique ability to explore the deepest problems of being in the wittiest of manners.
Set in the summer of 1945, in the weeks after VE Day, The Girls Of Slender Means transports its audience to an all-female London boarding house called the May of Teck Club. Here we are introduced to five very different young ladies — Jane (Molly Vevers), Joanna (Molly McGrath), Selina (Julia Brown), Pauline (Shannon Watson) and Anne (Amy Kennedy) — all giddy and hopeful in their literary and amorous adventures, but clearly hiding painful wounds of the war.
With each 'girl of slender mean' clad in a vibrant coloured costume against a bleak B&W backdrop of the bombed streets, design by Jessica Worrall is clever and stays true to Spark’s familiar juxtaposition of high spirits and underlying sadness in her work. By forgoing the 1963 novella’s past-present splintered layout and embracing more of a structured order for the stage, Quigley allows her audience to engage with characters and themes with greater ease and focus.
All five performances, along with sole male lead Seamus Dillane’s portrayal of love interest Nicholas Farringdon, are convincing, and as a group, their chemistry exudes tremendous allure.
Quigley offers her own refreshing and punchy take on Spark's The Girls Of Slender Means, but, at the same time, does not stray too far away from the original material's essence, which is exactly what one can hope for in this case!
At Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh until 4 May.
★ ★ ★ ★
