Greenwich Theatre is one of those London venues I have passed plenty of times but never visited. Only a few walking minutes away from Greenwich train station, I arrive for The Luminous just in time to put my name in the theatre’s guestbook and to get a ginger beer from the well-equipped bar. The amount of seats in the auditorium is much bigger than expected and the stage benefits from its high ceilings, also vaster than expected. Tonight, and for one night only, the Greenwich Theatre hosts The Luminous, a play by the Reading-based RedCape theatre company.
After a week of family-friendly half-term afternoon performances (don’t get me wrong, I love taking children to the theatre!) I yearn for an adult theatre night out with more mature content, and the gruesome, trigger-warning heavy summery fits well within the Halloween week as well. The Luminous is a women-led one-act play with horror elements which time-travels between nowadays smartphone-powered London, the anti-war movements of the 1980s and the Victorian epoch: A hospital staff’s book club reviews a book about a historic killer to the soundtracks of Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac in one of the members’ living room while the wine keeps flowing. While waiting for latecomers, rules are laid out to the latest member of this small literary society, chit chat follows and first likes and dislikes about the book in discussion. It is a debate which surrounds all true crime fans and addicts, no matter if they like to consume their favourite genre as a podcast, on Netflix or in print: Sensationalism sells, back then and still now, and it sells very, very well. If the key protagonist of the book discussed is Jack The Ripper or another women-killing murderer does not matter at any point. it actually stays open. Floating between different elements of visual stage effects never trying to compete with film, we hear a choir of women’s voices, the fascinating use of liquid-enhanced, creepy shadow play and fabric-based entrails. Talking of fabrics: I will leave the theatre with serious Converse All Star envy after having admired the silver glittery Chucks all evening.
The Luminous is an evening of laughs, shock and tears, of family, friendship and companionship, of work life, love, grief and fear and what it means, has meant and will mean to be a woman, especially in regards of safety and even more so safety after dark. Allow me to quote a well-worded description from the PR materials: “Writer Catherine Dyson and Artistic Directors Cassie Friend and Rebecca Loukes, comment, The original inspiration for The Luminous was sparked by our fascination with three protests from different eras in which women placed their bodies at the centre: the London Match Girls’ Strike of 1888, the Greenham Common protests in the 1970s and 80s and the Reclaim the Night movement which began in the 1970s and was revived recently in response to the death of Sarah Everard.” Yes, that is the 33-year-old who was killed by a police man on her way home in South London in 2021.
A lot of the play stays in mind while I wait for the train back from Greenwich – the reason why I have agreed to do a review in a so far unvisited venue on a Friday night (when it is dark on the way out and the way back) is because I know the journey and that it is well illuminated and well-populated. Earlier this year, for the first time I have declined a theatre review invitation elsewhere in London because I knew the journey back would not feel safe after the performance’s end at almost 11 pm, and a plus one ticket had been declined. It took me a lot of courage to share that with the organisers and I rewrote that email several times, but I felt it had to be shared; previously I would have politely declined, claiming I had no time to watch the performance and left it at that. I have not heard back from them since. The Luminous has assured me that pointing out the problem was indeed the right decision. Stay safe everyone.
**** out of 5 stars
The Luminous was created by RedCape Theatre, written by Catherine Dyson, directed by Sabina Netherclift and performed by Catherine Dyson, Cassie Friend and Rebecca Loukes
From 14 to 16 November The Luminous will conclude its tour in Plymouth
Sadie takes the Stage 