Silver Lining

The play was set in a well-designed box-set sitting room on the first floor of a retirement home in Gravesend. The home is  surrounded by rising floodwaters during Storm Vera and the residents are waiting for a bus which never comes. There were some moments of tender introspection as the five residents shared deep truths from their lives allowing us a window into their innermost secrets. There was also camaraderie reminiscent of wartime as the women worked together to build a boat so they could escape the floods. 

The director brought together a cast of six strong women and worked with them to really understand the intricacies of their characters and tease out the social injustices they had experienced. The first act introduced us to the characters and in the second we are taken deeper into their lives with a series of powerful monologues. It was clear that the director had focussed on making sure that the actors felt safe together as their characters opened up and shared their innermost feelings and failings. Together, this team cleverly contrasted the humour in the play with its darker and raw messages.

The lighting was well designed to give a lovely warmth to the sitting room and then dull but still lit when the power went off. There were some clever lightening effects which co-ordinated perfectly with the thunder sound effects and an authentic flickering of the lights as the power came and went. The design for the rescue boat made with tables and empty water bottle floats tied together with strings of pennants and curtain ties was very imaginative.

As always, there was an interesting programme with cast and crew biographies. The historical sections on the 1952 smog, the floods of 1952 the WRENS and the Suffragettes along with Gloria’s diary of a landlady and Hope’s Blog were not only interesting but tied very neatly into the script and the backgrounds of the characters.

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