The Revlon Girl

Tangible emotion filled the theatre, then the dreadful noise. 

Everyone remembers where they were when this appalling preventable disaster happened in Aberfan.

Everyone old enough knows what the word Aberfan means, and we were taken back to 1966 and that horrendous day. Meeting the tragic ladies, each a Mam with a taken child, trying to live after the disaster. We see them struggling to be brighter or responding with a swearing comment or just sit  alone with no hope of a recovery, as they meet together for  that  visit by a beautician, that if known about would have been frowned upon, played with care and pathos by Catrin Owen who held the stage as the Revlon Girl, who might just lift their spirits.

The Revlon Girl gives them her own account of a deep tragedy in her life to barely match theirs, to let them know she knew, as they meet in the sanctuary of a room above The Aberfan Hotel, their private place.

Every member of this cast played their roles brilliantly, sensitively they lived this account of how it was.

 An audience can take deeply emotional demanding situations so as we heard the coal tip break it could have gone on longer for maximum impact, we needed to live that time again. Although there was humour, a little more could have been made of it for even the deepest sadness, has a lighter side

One incredibly poignant moment was as they recollected the Queen’s brave visit to Aberfan and the impact it had on the whole community. Technically, it was authentic in every detail, adding to the reality.

After the play ended a member of the audience next to me turned and said, “I was eight at the time and went to the school down the road. We saw all the ambulances speeding down the road”

Imagine how I felt.

A deeply moving visit to Blackwood Little Theatre 

Today unbelievably, the coal tips in the valleys still stand menacing…

 

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