Halifax Thespians present drama about Aberfan tragedy at the Playhouse

Eight months after the Aberfan Disaster of 1966, in which 144 people were killed – 116 of them children – a group of bereaved mothers meet weekly above a local hotel to talk, cry and even laugh without feeling guilty.

At one of their previous meetings, the women looked at each other and admitted how much they felt they had let themselves go.

Afraid that people will think them frivolous, they have secretly arranged for a representative from Revlon to come and give them a talk on beauty tips.

Written by Neil Anthony Docking, Revlon Girl, is directed by Polly Bryan, and stars Melanie Murray as Marilyn; Hannah Head as Jean; Sharon Old as Rona; Heather Garside, in her Halifax Thespian debut, as Sian and Amy Jagger as Revlon.

“This is a story of how people deal with grief. The women create a self-help group and try to help each other. It’s not all gloom, there’s quite a lot of humour in it to lighten the poignancy,” said director Polly.

“We hear what happened on the day of the disaster from different perspectives.

"It’s seen as the worst mining disaster in British history, not because of the number of dead but because of their age.

"Most of the children who died were between seven and 10-year-old. One woman tells of her child having no one to play with any more. These are heart-rending stories but they’re lightened every now and then with humour.

“It’s a compact one-scene play with a part for the prompter too,” Polly said

The show runs at the Halifax Playhouse, Kings Cross Street, from from Tuesday May 14 to Saturday May 18, daily 7.30pm plus a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm.

To book tickets visit www.ticketsource.co.uk/HalifaxPlayhouse, ring the box office on 01422 365998 or email: [email protected]