Radium Girls

Radium Girls Poster

Introduction:

    Welcome to the first-ever review of the Toms River Theater Extravaganza. This review is dedicated to the production done on Radium Girls, performed by the Toms River High School South Thespians! I watched this fall play on November 4th, which happened to be their last performance. Before I get into my thoughts, let me give you a quick synopsis of Radium Girls.

Synopsis:

    Being set in the early 20th century, with most of the story in the mid-1920s New Jersey, Radium Girls follows Grace Fryer, Kathryn Schaub, and Irene Rudolph, dial painters for the U.S. Radium Plant. These girls have been told to point their brushes by molding the bristles with their mouths while they paint. They were told to dip their brushes into radium, a substance thought to do wonders at the time. However, they soon begin to notice health issues, with one of their co-workers dying. With her death brushed aside and the plant, led by Arthur Roder,  trying to keep the girls quiet as they get sicker, the girls try to fight back amid pushed-back court dates and attempts to keep them away from the press. Grace, in particular, battles the U.S. Radium Corporation head-on but also wounds up fighting with her family and friends to seek justice for her fellow workers.

Review:

    This show was something, to be honest—in both good and bad ways. 

    Let's start off with the positives! There were some STANDOUT performances by the cast members. Those who played Kathrine Wiley and Berry specifically really stood out. The actresses who played Grace Fryer and Kathryn Schaub put up compelling performances too. The acting was stellar for a cast where half the members were making their debut through this play. I also loved the lighting. I thought it was done well, making me focus on the characters that needed to be focused on. The green light used throughout to transition between scenes was also cool. The themes explored in the show itself were riveting. From what I got from the show, I thought about the role females were told to have in society versus what they wanted, especially in that period, and how the media loves to capitalize on tragedies for their benefit. I also thought it was interesting how the production effectively humanized Arthur Roder. At first glance, the businessman seems like a greedy corporate head who could care less for the livelihood of his workers. However, by touching on why Roder had to try to preserve the plant's reputation and through the actor's performance as Roder, this production of Radium Girls did a great job reminding me that Arthur Roder is also human. My favorite part of the show was seeing the wheelchair as a prop. I get it. Radium Girls is set in the 1920s, so wheelchairs, as we know them today, did not exist. But I still got a great kick out of seeing a dining chair with bike wheels attached to the sides of the chair be a wheelchair since I thought it was incredibly creative.

    Now onto the negatives, which I promise, are not many. One thing I was not a fan of was the play structure. This may have just been the way the play was written. But I felt it was really rigid in that the scenes did not flow with one another. I guess it makes sense in some ways because the show spanned multiple years. Either way, it felt stifling while watching the show because the lights would go dark and to a green light as the crew moved set pieces to change scenes. The constant shift from a scene to a blackout made it less possible for me to immerse myself in the show. I get it, a fade to black is normal in theater. But by using the same music over and over, it made it harder to feel a progression of time throughout the show. Other than the fabulous wheelchair, I thought the set design was boring. Nothing stood out, with most of the props being chairs and rolling tables. It felt very one note, but this could have been due to how the play was written. While I did praise the acting, it is imperative to note that it was not great throughout. At times, the acting was quite spotty due to actors and actresses forgetting lines or having stiff performances. A lot of the mistakes could be chalked up to nerves or inexperience on stage, which makes sense as half of the cast were performing for the first time on stage. 

Conclusion:

    Overall, the production of Radium Girls gets 4/5 stars! Objectively, the thespians did a great job performing the show. The acting was good overall but can (and will) be improved with time. The lighting was cool and the themes explored were interesting. On the other hand, the set design was weak, and the lack of flow between scenes made it hard for me to immerse myself in the show. However, I think choosing Radium Girls as the show limited what the thespians could have done due to how it was written. Despite its weaknesses, it was still a great performance the thespians put up!