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Point Of Contention Theatre Company’s Chicago premiere of Radium Girls quite simply raises the bar for black box theater productions. Not with dazzling effects or innovative conceptualization, but rather by doing something so simple and yet so powerfully profound. It makes you care.
Four, out of the last eight, plays that I have reviewed share one common thread, despite a vast range of storylines, budgets and approaches to production. That similarity is, I didn’t care about the characters. And if there is no empathy, affinity, sympathy, contempt or compassion, it is pretty difficult to muster drama. Without connection the best you can hope for is flash.
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Marissa Cowsill is exceptional as Grace Fryer, the longest lasting and hardest fighting radium girl. Seldom do you see such character growth so subtly yet impressively delivered, as she gradually goes from naïve young woman to crippled champion of the cause. Her character’s transformation is delicate and devastating.
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In another review of the play it says:
At the heart of the play is Grace Fryer, played by the young and amazing Marissa Cowsill. She’s the driver behind bringing the matter to light and fighting the “big man” to seek justice for both her deceased friends and the woman who are currently enduring radium poisoning. As played by Cowsill, Grace is a scrappy, determined young woman who seeks truth and justice, despite the company attempting to silence her with threats and bribes. One scene in particular stuck with me. Grace’s nattering, frugal mother is pushing her to take a settlement just offered to her, and Grace stands firm, telling her that it’s more than money – she gave up her youth and a chance for an education to work, and she did what they told her to do at the factory – to lick the paintbrush. She never gave anyone any trouble, and now it’s time to make them know that they can’t get off this easily. (I’m heavily paraphrasing, here). The delivery by Cowsill was exceptional.
by robertian
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