Review: THE DROWNING GIRLS at New Mexico Actors Lab

The Drowning Girls

New Mexico Actors Lab

June 11-28

https://www.nmactorslab.com/

According to the Director’s note, The Drowning Girls is based on a true story. It tells the tale of three women who lived during the early half of the 20th century; all three were murdered by their husbands, drowned in their bathtubs.  Bessie Mundy was killed by husband Henry Williams in 1912. Alice Burnham was murdered by husband George Smith in 1913. Margaret Lofts was drowned by husband John Lloyd in 1914. All in the city of Bath, England.

Coincidence? Nope, turns out these three men were all one man living under pseudonyms to steal women’s money and murder them. I am not giving it away – we learn this within the first few minutes of this compelling one act play. Written by Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson and Daniela Vlaskalic, the play takes place on a sparse stage set with three identical bathtubs. Bessie (Mariah Bolla Olesen), Alice (Hazel King ) and Margaret (Rikki Carroll) all emerge from their tubs to tell their tales of how they met their fates. The dialogue has a lyrical quality, with each woman finishing the sentences and thoughts of her fellow wives.

Director Emily Rankin says in her notes “I’m interested in the ways in which theatre can give a voice to the voiceless, and in how art gives us the opportunity to hear and tell previously untold stories……I hope this play challenges you. I hope it incites wonderment and gratitude, as it’s done for me.” The play does indeed challenge and create a space for wonderment, thanks in large part to Rankin’s vision. The action feels similar to a ballet, a tight, well-choreographed piece in which each actor not only relies on her fellow actors for support, but to hold up the structure of the piece; one missed step could spell disaster.

Luckily, the three actors are not only capable, but captivating in their roles. There is a camaraderie among the women that only comes from living a shared experience. We are drawn to their conversation and have moments of forgetting that they are, in fact, dead.

There is no one standout performance here, all three are standouts in their own right. Each actor has moments of heartbreaking beauty, as they all come to the realization that they have been manipulated, used and discarded by a truly evil man. Each laments about the fate of women in the 1900s – unable to vote, to own land or to be a head of household, the women (and all women at the time) have no choice but to marry or be deemed a destitute old maid.

I feel like I could write a whole separate review extolling all the technical wonderment of the piece. Set Designer Chris Conard’s bathtubs fill and drain and fill some more, leaving the audience to wonder just how they do it – it’s an amazing feat. Lighting Designer Skip Rapoport brings an eerie and ethereal quality to the set and the actors, their ghostly pallor is both creepy and beautiful. Costume Designer Aubrey Pietrocci uses delicate looking fabrics to create the undergarments and trashed wedding dresses, but they must be durable to sustain the soaking they get each night.

Suffice it to say that The Drowning Girls is not to be missed. It made me want to learn more about this insane case and made me wonder how many others suffered similar fates back in the past. It also made me wonder if we can stop what the patriarchy STILL wants for today’s women – is the cycle one that we can break once and for all?