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WRITTEN BY
NEIL ANTHONY DOCKING DIRECTED BY
MAXINE EVANS ‘SIAN’
CHARLOTTE GRAY ‘REVLON’
ANTONIA KINLAY ‘MARILYN’
MICHELLE MCTERNAN ‘RONA’
BETHAN THOMAS
The Revlon Girl ‘JEAN’
ZOË HARRISON
SET DESIGN
ELERI LLOYD
LIGHTING DESIGN
CHRIS ‘BOMBER’ BARRETT SPECIAL TECHNICAL EFFECTS
DAN TRAVERS PHOTOGRAPHY
CYRIL PREDDY ORIGINAL MUSIC
NEIL ANTHONY DOCKING
ONE ACT - NO INTERVAL THE ACTION TAKES PLACE ON A WET, BALMY EVENING IN JUNE 1967 IN A ROOM ABOVE THE ABERFAN HOTEL PRODUCED BY INDEPENDENCE SHOWS. INDEPENDENCE SHOWS IS A TRADING NAME FOR INDEPENDENCE PICTURES LTD. THIS PROGRAMME © 2017 INDEPENDENCE PICTURES LTD ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL RIGHTS TO IMAGES AND CONTENT INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMAGES, LOGOS, TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHS ARE RESERVED WITHOUT LIMITATION BY THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS. THOUGH BASED ON REAL EVENTS ‘THE REVLON GIRL’ IS A WORK OF FICTION. ANY SIMILARITY TO ANY PERSONS LIVING OR DEAD IS ENTIRELY COINCIDENTAL.
ABERFAN
THE ABERFAN DISASTER On the morning of 21st October 1966, above the small Welsh mining village of Aberfan an estimated 150,000 tonnes of colliery waste sited high on the mountain above the village slipped suddenly at 9.15am. Travelling at around 30ft per second, it first engulfed a farmhouse, killing all the occupants. Then it hit a disused canal- only to build up more power as it filled the empty canal. Now mixed with masonry, boulders and trees, the tip rose up in a giant wave, cascaded over an embankment, tore out two large water mains, demolished two rows of houses before glancing off the senior school and ploughing directly into Pantglas Junior School next door.
ARCHIVE FOOTAGE
144 people died; 116 of them school-children, most perishing at their school desks The subsequent Tribunal of Inquiry (at 76 days it was, at the time, the longest inquiry in British history) found that the cause of the disaster was essentially due to Tip No. 7 having been tipped on top of an underground spring; something that had been described as ‘unknown’ and ‘unforeseeable’ by the National Coal Board in the days following the disaster. However, as the Inquiry discovered, the spring and the unsuitable positioning of the tip was neither unknown, unknowable nor unforeseeable and that an inspection of the tips (there were 6 more above the village) had been ‘treated so cavalierly as to render [the] visit useless’. In its final report, the Tribunal said: ‘…the Aberfan disaster is a terrifying tale of bungling ineptitude by many men charged with tasks for which they were totally unfitted, a failure to heed clear warnings, and of total lack of direction from above. Not villains but decent men,led astray by foolishness or by ignorance or by both in combination, are responsible for what happened at Aberfan. That, in all conscience, is a burden heavy enough for them to have to bear without the additional brand of villainy…’ Following a campaign by the village, the remaining 6 tips were cleared. However, in a bitter twist to the story, money earmarked to clear the remaining tips were- in part- taken from the Disaster Appeal Fund i.e. all the charitable donations sent to Aberfan from around the world. In Government documents (kept secret until 1997) it can be seen that a dispute erupted between the National Coal Board, the Treasury, the Welsh Office and the Prime Minister’s office about who would be the bearer of the cost. The Coal Board’s estimate for clearing the tips was £3 million when the wrangling began. Finally the Coal Board agreed to pay £350,000, the Appeal fund would pay £150,000 (with little resistance from the Charity Commission) and the rest of the cost would be borne by the Exchequer (up to £1 million). Fortunately for them (and indeed the Coal Board) the initial estimate of £3 million shrunk dramatically by over two-thirds and the final cost of clearing the tips was tendered at £850,000. Given all that had happened, it is startling to read in official Treasury documents (available at the National Archive in Kew) the tone struck by the Treasury in July 1968, almost two years following the disaster: ‘I recognise that there might be some difficulty in bringing in the Appeal Fund. But if the residents attach such a high priority to the clearance work… it is entirely appropriate that the Fund should join in with the government in making a special contribution’ And a ‘special contribution’ was made by the village, who duly handed over the £150,000 - undoubtedly worn down not just by the external arguments but by the internal ones too. In truth, the village was divided: many simply didn’t care how the remaining tips were removed- or where the money came from. However, for others, the demand for money added insult to injury. For them, it was a point of principle; it was after all the National Coal Board who was liable and responsible for the tips in the first place so they should pay. The issue remains an open sore and a source of tension for many. However, in 1997, the money released from the Disaster Fund 30 years previously was finally returned by the then Secretary of State for Wales, Ron Davies.
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CHARLOTTE GRAY SIAN Charlotte trained at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and is a former member of the National Youth Theatre of Wales. Her theatre credits include: The Light of Heart, Undermilk Wood, Alan Aykbourn’s Season’s Greetings, A Small Family Business, Taking Steps, A Child’s Christmas in Wales, Pygmalion, The Suicide, An Inspector Calls, The Hub and A Write to Rock (for Theatre Clwyd, Cymru); The Gut Girls, Never Fear Love? (Velvet Ensemble); A Red Threatening Sky (Foolish People); A Night on the Tiles (Grassroots Productions); The Tree and The One Sea (Atomic 80 Productions Assembly Rooms). Television credits include: Alys, (series regular 1&2); Caerdydd, Afel Druig (S4C) and Stella (Tidy Productions).
AST
ANTONIA KINLAY REVLON Antonia trained at RADA and has recently been filming Career of Evil for HBO/BBC.Her theatre credits include The Suicide (National Theatre); A History Of Falling Things (New Vic Theatre); Bad Jews (Theatre Royal Bath); Molière (National Theatre Studio/Finborough); The Eternal Not (National Theatre); Arden Of Faversham (The Globe) When Did You Last See My Mother? (Trafalgar Studios); Lady Anna: All At Sea (Park Theatre); The Three Lions (St James Theatre); Arms And The Man (Theatre Clwyd); Mr Whatnot (Northampton Royal Theatre); As You Like It (Theatre Clwyd); Carrot (Theatre 503). Film & Television Credits include: Emmerdale, Mi High, Consuming Passion, Doctors and Broadside
MICHELLE MCTERNAN MARILYN Michelle created the role of Marilyn and toured Wales during the 50th Anniversary year of the Aberfan Disaster before performing in the sell-out run in Edinburgh earlier this year. She is the voice of ‘Nib’ in the children’s animation series Bobinogs (CBeebies) and plays WPC Glover in Sky1 HD’s hit comedy Stella. Theatre Credits include: Under Milk Wood, Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead (Clwyd Theatr Cymru); Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant Of Venice, Buoy and Fall Out 84 (Pontardawe Arts Centre); Barren (October Sixty Six Productions); Bara Bread (Theatr Gwalia); The Three Night Blitz (Joio Productions/Swansea Grand); Granny Annie, Trivial Pursuits, Erogenous Zones, (Grassroots); Flesh And Blood (Sherman/Hampstead Theatres); The Oystercatchers (Swansea Grand/Sherman Theatre); Blue Remembered Hills (Torch); Twelfth Night, Cymbeline, The Merchant Of Venice (Ludlow Festival). Television Credits include: Dr Terrible’s House of Horrible (Baby Cow/BBC); Tales from Pleasure Beach and Light in the City (BBC Wales). Her film credits include: Rain, The Lost Viking, Boudicca: Warrior Queen (Tornado Films); Very Annie Mary (Dragon Pictures); The Healers (Pooka Films); Midnight (Nowhere Fast).
BETHAN THOMAS RONA Bethan’s credits include: Channel 4’s Hollyoaks; Linda in the West End production of Blood Brothers; Kitty in Charley’s Aunt (Ian Dickens Productions); Beyond Therapy, Mother Courage, Under Milk Wood; Portia (Merchant of Venice); Adrianna (Comedy of Errors); Hermia (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) and Olivia (Twelfth Night) as well as the Duchess in The Duchess of Malfi. Bethan’s film credits include Be All And End All, Sawn off Santa, Don’t Walk, Hermit, Love Me Love My Dog, The Harmion Tale and, for the BBC, Dear Nobody.
ZOË HARRISON JEAN Zoë trained at Guildford School of Acting and her theatre credits include The Sound of Music (London Palladium); The Circle (Oxford Stage Company); What a Wonderful World (Lyngo Theatre Company); & Blondel (Pleasance, London). She co-wrote and co-starred in BBC Radio 4 comedy series Jason Cook’s School of Hard Knocks. TV and film credits include EastEnders, Two Doors Down, Doctors (BBC) and Neil’s Party (Twothreefive Productions). Zoë can currently be seen as Young Maria in the feature film Never Let Go on Nexflix and as Rob Brydon’s wife in the P&O cruises commercials.
CREATIVE
MAXINE EVANS DIRECTOR
Maxine studied classical acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has worked as an actor, writer, series editor and director in television, film and theatre. She directed Without a Song or a Dance (shortlisted Best Director at the Cork Film Festival) Nuts & Bolts (ITV/RTS Award winner) and Rain (a Feature Film Musical) while her writing/series editor credits include Coronation Street, Crossroads and Nuts & Bolts (ITV). She continues to develop new writing for theatre (Goat Street Runners and Who’s Coat Is That Jacket?) and has recently directed a new comedy entitled Storyline. As an actor Maxine appears regularly on television- most notably in BBC’s Call The Midwife and A Song For Jenny and as the indomitable ‘Rhian’ in Sky 1’s hit comedy Stella.
NEIL ANTHONY DOCKING WRITER & COMPOSER
Neil is a British writer, composer and producer, and has worked in press, radio, film and theatre. His credits include: The Guardian (columnist); Station Road (BBC Radio Drama); The Throne Room (original play for BBC Radio); Bay College, Casualty (BBC); Nuts & Bolts, Crossroads, Emmerdale (ITV1); Without a Song or a Dance (BBC) and TVCC (C4) and has been shortlisted for the BBC Dennis Potter Screenwriting Award. He has written, scored and co-produced the original independent British feature film musical, Rain, and most recently wrote and produced Storyline, an original comedy for online broadcast. The Revlon Girl is his first play for theatre.
ELERI LLOYD SET DESIGN
Eleri is a visual artist, designing for performance, events, installations and exhibitions. Since graduating in 2013 from the RWCMD, she has assisted designers Ed Devlin, Tom Scutt and Naomi Dawson for, amongst others, the MTV Music Video Awards (MTV/USA); Hope (Royal Court); East is East (Trafalgar Studio/Jamie Lloyd Season); White Devil (Swan Theatre/RSC); Beryl (West Yorkshire Playhouse); Hotel (The Shed, National Theatre). Eleri’s design credits include: The Big Democracy (National Theatre Wales); Reasons to be Pretty (Richard Burton Company); Adrift (Touring Production); Up&Over, It (Touring Production); The Odyssey (TheOxford Playhouse) and Picnic (Richard Burton Company).
CHRIS BARRETT LIGHTING DESIGN
Since leaving school, Chris has been part of the lighting team at the Swansea Grand and is now Head Of Lighting And Electrics. He has designed over thirty pantomimes in Swansea in addition to Belfast, Reading and others for Qdos. Chris has also lit many other shows for numerous companies and still loves a good challenge be it opera, ballet musical or drama. He has worked in Dubai (lighting the nutcracker ballet for Ballet Russe) and also at Mansion House, lighting up the Lord Mayor’s Cellar for Halloween.
DAN TRAVERS SPECIAL TECHNICAL EFFECTS
Dan studied Chemistry at Oxford University where he found time to pursue his long standing interest in theatre working on several student productions such as Spring Awakening, and as technician for the O’Reilly Theatre at Keble. Following graduation, Dan quickly found work as theatre technician at Pontardawe Arts Centre working as lighting and sound technician on numerous productions and tours. He soon also developed a reputation for solving seemingly impossible technical challenges from revealing a door from a suitcase for King Of The Sky to intelligent raindrops for The Revlon Girl.
CKNOWLEGE
CAST LOCATION & PRODUCTION PHOTOGRAPHY BY CYRIL PREDDY VINTAGE EYEWEAR SUPPLIED BY SELECTSPECS.COM WIGS DRESSED BY CLAIRE PRITCHARD-JONES COSTUME TAILORING BERYL THOMAS SELECTED MAKE-UP PRODUCTS PROVIDED BY REVLON UK With thanks to MARCUS WHITNEY and ANNE BARFIELD
EDINBURGH FRINGE AUDIENCE TRAILER DIRECTED BY RICHARD ATWELL
THE PRODUCERS WISH TO THANK JASON MCMILLAN, HENRY REES, ARTS COUNCIL WALES, JANE GURNETT, PATRICK ROBINSON, PETER DORAN, LESLEY HARCOURT, TONY & ANN DOCKING, FLETCHER & RIPLEY, JOHN DOCKING, JENNIFER ANTON, REVLON UK, SAM WHITE, THE NATIONAL ARCHIVE at KEW, THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF MEDICINE, LORD TED ROWLANDS, RON DAVIES, GEOFFERY HOWE, LORD HOWE of ABERAVON (posth), HHJ CLAUDIA ACKNER, DAVID DAVIES and EMMA AT KINDLE HOUSE for providing the location for Antonia Kinlay’s photograph.
WITH VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO PONTARDAWE ARTS CENTRE FOR THEIR CONTINUED SUPPORT AND INVALUABLE CONTRIBUTION IN THE MAKING OF THE REVLON GIRL. ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ANGIE DICKINSON MARKETING & PR RACHEL THOMAS THANKS TO ELIZABETH FELTON, MEIRION GITTINS, CHRISTOPHER AUSTIN, VOISEY, RHODRI WILLIAMS, MICHELLE DAVIDSON
NICK
EXECTIVE PRODUCERS for INDEPENDENCE SHOWS: MAXINE EVANS & NEIL ANTHONY DOCKING
ARK THEATR
About Park Theatre Park Theatre was founded by Artistic Director, Jez Bond. The building opened in May 2013 and, with three West End transfers, two National Theatre transfers and ten national tours in its first four years, quickly garnered a reputation as key player in the London theatrical scene. In 2015 Park Theatre received an Olivier nomination and won The Stage’s Fringe Theatre of the Year. Park Theatre is an inviting and accessible venue, delivering work of exceptional calibre in the heart of Finsbury Park. We work with writers, directors and designers of the highest quality to present compelling, exciting and beautifully told stories across our two intimate spaces. Our programme encompasses a broad range of work from classics to revivals with a healthy dose of new writing, producing in-house as well as working in partnership with emerging and established producers. We strive to play our part within the UK’s theatre ecology by offering mentoring, support and opportunities to artists and producers within a professional theatre-making environment.
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Associate Artist
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Mark Cameron
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