While some writers are of their time the 22 novels of Edinburgh-born novelist and Catholic convert Muriel Spark retains a fresh and contemporary atmosphere.
Adapted by Gabriel Quigley and directed by Roxana Silbert, the costumes by designer Jessica Worrall are immediately arresting on the eye. The colour, fabric and style of glamorous 1940s fashion is a sight to behold. Set in both Edinburgh and London during wartime Molly Vevers as Jane Wright brings many aspects of the author’s early life to the stage. There is something of an everyday Edinburgh woman that is beautifully captured in Jane.
The dramatic energy of five young women coping during a time of national crisis is dealt with in a variety of behaviours and actions. Shannon Watson is both comical and fragile as Pauline Fox who perhaps believes she is dating the Scottish theatre actor Jack Buchanan.
While played for laughs, Watson delivers a playful and nuanced performance that leaves you with some understanding of how young women coped with bombs falling around them and the horror of war. It’s a particularly Sparkian trait to bring a foreboding sense of darkness into her work and none more so than in the turmoil and suffering of the young women.
When Jane demands that her “brain needs to be fed” with art and light, it speaks to us as much about the present moment as 1945. Each character is elegantly written, the Schiaparelli gown is a character in itself being passed around the women but it is perhaps Molly McGrath as Joanna Childe in a bluebell gown that delivers the most memorable scene as a kind of Catholic martyr.
Spark suggested that her Catholic faith made her a stronger writer and that sense continues to resonate in the work. There’s a palpable chemistry between all six members of the cast.
The performances remain with you, especially after the final word of ‘rejoice’ which rings out long after the bell has tolled and the curtain has fallen.
The Girls of Slender Means, The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh until 4 May 2024.
