The Kalamazoo Civic Theatre recently opened its production of “Radium Girls.” WMUK’s Gordon Bolar has this review.
D.W. Gregory’s play focuses on the struggles of several young female workers who painted watch dial faces with deadly radium paint during the 1920’s.
This well-documented page from American history is ripped from newspaper stories and events that took place in the factory of the U.S. Radium Corporation, as well as the courtroom. But it’s the manner in which this story is told on stage that brings it to life and makes it relevant to this day.
Director Dr. Miriam Hahn Thomas delivers a fast-paced, smartly styled production that takes a provocative look at the exploitative powers of big business on labor during the early 20th century.
“Radium Girls,” is seamlessly staged in the Civic’s Parish Theatre and features no less than seventeen talented actors, many of whom are double cast. The play’s two dozen scenes morph into one another, overlap, and move around Justin Muse’s flexible bilevel stage design from factory, to home, to streetcorner, to courtroom and finally to the gravesite of a recently buried victim of radiation poisoning.
The rapid free-flowing cascade of short scenes turns the stage into a forum for the audience’s consideration of the period’s issues including labor conditions, women’s role in the workplace, environmental concerns, and justice within the court system.
Also submitted for our judgement are the ethical decisions of corporate executives, medical and scientific professionals, and the workers exposed to toxic substances.
The play centers around the journey of Grace Fryer, who becomes gravely ill after working with the apparently harmless element radium. Grace, played with quiet tenacity by Rhyan Shankool, at first acquiesces to the application instructions of her stern supervisor. Later, she begins to ask questions upon experiencing early effects of the radiation sickness that will consume her and her co-workers.
Shankool successfully portrays this character’s arc through her display of Grace’s physical fortitude and vocal persistence in the face of medical, corporate, and legal challenges that confront her.
Her decision to take on these hurdles is aided by a consumer advocate and reformer played with steely resolve and laudable economy of movement by Stefani Bishop. In a line greeted by audience applause and laughter, Wiley cautions Grace to tread gently: “the world has no sympathy for angry women.”
Grace’s fiancé, Tom, one of four roles vividly rendered by David Ross, and her mother, played by the versatile Sharon Weissmann, provide little for her in the way of moral or physical encouragement.
As Rhyan Shankool’s convincing performance demonstrates, Grace’s courage comes from within rather than from those around her. In one of the show’s most electrifying moments, Grace realizes her worth in the world, summons the backbone to stand on her now crippled legs, and defiantly refuses the meager corporate offer to buy her silence.
In contrast, her chief adversary, U.S. Radium president, Arthur Roeder, played by Logan Awe, is a man mired in corruption and denial. Awe paints an intriguing portrait of this complex character who also struggles with mustering fortitude, yet comes up empty, as he capitulates to the demands of public image and corporate profit.
After his damning response to the courtroom question that would later bring down an American President, “What did he know and when did he know it?”, Awe’s character’s reaction is bewilderment and surprise, rather than guilt or disappointment at his own moral failings.
The lasting visual takeaway from this memorable production is a large, green, glow-in-the-dark clock, with numerals, but no hands to mark hours or minutes. It is mounted above the rear of the stage and looms over the victims who paint with poisoned substances. It presides over the courtroom delays and verdicts on the actions of the characters in “Radium Girls.”
During darkened scene changes, the glowing clock’s loud ticking prompts measurement of the time left. The time still left for the characters to make their decisions. The time still left in the lives of those who will die from radium poisoning. And more importantly, the time still left to change what needs to be changed in our present-day world.