Harriet Joyce on the latest show at Incognito Theatre

Last month saw another sell out run at Friern Barnet’s Incognito Theatre, as Kenneth Joyson directed The Revlon Girl.

Neil Anthony Docking’s play follows a group of bereaved mothers who meet weekly above a local hotel, following the Aberfan Disaster of 1966, in which 144 people were killed (116 of them children).

The women secretly plan to invite a representative from Revlon to come and give them a talk on beauty tips.

Unlike her character Sian, Incognito’s Emma Procter has gained plenty of knowledge in the world of makeup and SFX during her time working behind the scenes on Game of Thrones and Star Wars.

Procter’s portrayal of the bubbly Sian was hilarious and heartwarming: it marked both her first involvement with Incognito and her first performance since taking a twelve-year break from acting.

Procter shared the stage with Emily Kennedy-Neal, starring as a prim Revlon rep, Mary Groom, portraying conservative Jean, Jacqui Ravenhall, playing an amusing, foul-mouthed Rona and Natasha Colenso, depicting the introverted Marilyn.

The colour palette of the costumes, advised by Eleanore Jones, emphasised the personality of the characters. Such as the choice to put Sian in a sunshine yellow, Rona in a jealous green and Revlon in a daring red.

This colour palette carried through to John Savage’s resourceful set design. Savage has worked on many shows at the Incognito Theatre, including The Weir, and apart from a few sheets of new board, created the set solely from materials the theatre already had in stock.

Huw Morgan’s use of sound was effective in showcasing the emotions of the play right from the beginning. It begins with ambient sounds of children playing together before fading into the more ominous sounds of the disaster, all of which could be heard before the curtain even opened, when sounds of chirping birds and rain fall allowed the audience to immerse themselves into the lives of the mothers.

There was a real drip coming from the ceiling which, thanks to the intimate setting, could be heard dropping into a bucket.

As the show reaches its climax, the rain sounds come to a halt and we see a vulnerable side to the otherwise emotionally avoidant and feisty Rona. The silence during her monologue helps to express her difficulty in revealing all that she had previously bottled up. Though set in the mid-60s, the play is still relevant today, conveying feelings of guilt, shallowness and shame that these women, especially as mothers, were made to feel for just wanting to express themselves, whether that be physically or emotionally.

To find out more visit: https://www.incognitotheatre.co.uk

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