By: Rosie Sharman-Ward
A dark, chilly night, the sort that makes you walk a little faster, the back of your neck prickles – don’t look back….
Eerie, darkly humorous and relatable. The Luminous weaves together stories of women. As it slips seamlessly between times past, recent history and the present, it deftly illustrates the struggles of these women and their determination to create a better future. Tales from the depths of poverty and horrific exploitation to modern women at the top of their careers, we are drawn deep into their lives. We feel their helplessness, their rage and their strength. Echoes of the past create a haunting thread that binds them all, even today.
A busy A&E nurse does her best comfort a victim of sexual assault, one of many traumatised women who have passed by her this evening. Wearily she moves on to the next, knowing she cannot give her best. Too many people, too few staff. The NHS is crumbling and so is the fabric of the old hospital. It has areas that are distinctly creepy. Who is the woman in the brown gown, seen only out of the corner of an eye?
Skilfully written by Catherine Dyson, who also plays Alice, a tough A&E nurse, The Luminous manages to successfully blend a gothic Victorian thriller with the lives of three contemporary women. The three, A&E Alice, matter-of-fact Radiologist, Mighty, Cassie Friend, and Mags from Maternity, Rebecca Loukes, decide to start a book club. Their first book is “The Luminous” a fictitious, somewhat lurid, account of events leading to the Match Girl Strike in 1888. As they await the arrival of another friend, they consume much of the obligatory wine and tongues are loosened.
Directed by Sabina Netherclift, this show combines dark comedy, variety show singing and fearful facts to narrate the lives of the women. Tina Bicât’s versatile set and Adrian Croton’s mood inducing lighting, brings an emotive feel to the whole. The production wins a prize from me for most ingenious use of an overhead projector and I love the unearthly “Woman in the Brown Gown” so very clever!
The Luminous is a hymn to the bravery of womankind and a stark reminder that not all is right with the World by a long way.