Reading-based Red Cape Theatre, founded by Cassie Friend and Rebecca Loukes, has garnered an impressive reputation for producing strong physical theatre and challenging storytelling, and The Luminous continues this tradition. This was the first night of their tour and the first time they had performed to an audience, so perhaps work in progress.
The set, designed by Tina Bicât, has a white model of a large hospital building dominating the back of the stage and a smaller model of a town at the front, all beautifully lit (Adrian Croton).
Three friends, splendidly played by Catherine Dyson, Cassie Friend and Rebecca Loukes, who work for the NHS meet to establish a book club and discuss their chosen book, Luminous, a dark, Victorian melodrama set in lurid London.
At each weekly session, they explore a chapter with the title projected onto a screen using an old-fashioned overhead projector. The cast multi-role, playing Alice, the Emcee and Mags as well as all the other characters, cleverly changing simple costumes to help create the roles.
The stories are vividly portrayed, all with women as the central character. There is a Jack Ripper tale with horrendous murders and an account of the horrid conditions that the girls working in Bryant and May match factory had to endure suffering from handling phosphorous, losing their teeth and whose bones “glow under their skin.”
There is a hilarious scene in the style of pantomime where a ‘body’ is dissected, bringing much light comic relief.
There are many references to protests, including the Greenham Common women who were fighting against the nuclear missiles at the American airbase and Reclaim the Night in response to the death of Sarah Everard.
As the wine flows at the meetings, the women share their own personal experiences, and female friendships grow as the subject matter of the book begins to morph with their present-day situations.
There is much to like in this somewhat lengthy production, which would benefit from some judicious cutting. However, the message of the value of book clubs and the coming together to share experiences comes across strongly.
Catherine Dyson has written an intriguing play that raises important questions, and Sabina Netherclift’s assured direction ensures that these issues have a voice.
Tours until November.