The Luminous
01 November 2024
Greenwich Theatre
2.5 out of 5.0 stars
The Luminous, currently touring the UK, popped into the Greenwich Theatre for one performance only. The one and a half hour show by RedCape Theatre tackles themes of misogyny, violence against women, and empowerment. Blurring stories from Victorian London with modern narratives, it’s an ambitious project.
There is a lot going on in this production, despite its somewhat bare stage. With just a few pieces of black furniture on a black box stage, a small model of a hospital, and a projector, the focus lays squarely on the words and actions in this three-hander. Throughout the show, a chorus of three nurses provide exposition and foreshadowing with precise, well rehearsed words hauntingly spoken in perfect unison, blending scenes from the various settings of The Luminous. And here is where the play’s biggest struggles lie, there is just too much going on, too many settings blended and meshed together without much needed cohesion, thus blurring and obscuring the actual message being carried throughout.
There is a book club of three nurses discussing the book The Luminous, a collection of stories from Victorian London focussing on the matchgirls strike of 1888, the crimes of the Ripper of the same period, as well as general struggles of women at the time, all acted out in penny gaff theatre fashion. These two storylines alone would have been quite a bit to follow, but they are also woven in with scenes from the hospital the nurses work at, plans of a new wing being built, the construction workers discovering bones deep in the soil, those bones likely being remnants of workers from the matchstick factory who likely died of phossy jaw or other work related injuries, a protest being staged at said hospital to preserve and honour those bones, the protest being observed by the book club nurses from across the street, stories of the nurses’ childhoods and youths, ghosts appearing in the new hospital wing built on top of all those bones, and finally a fourth book club member being missing under dubious circumstances in a badly lit neighbourhood. It’s all a bit much to keep track of, muddling the waters and blurring focus.
There is a through-thread of women being exploited and violated, but there are just too many stories being explored at the same time, making it difficult to discern the message or goal of The Luminous. There is exposure of misogyny, of course, but the play lacks a clear message as it also contains scenes of women tearing into each other rather than supporting and building one another up, speaking ill of their mothers who sought to better women’s standing in society, thus not spending enough time raising their children, and other scenes with questionable plot lines that don’t quite wrap up, nor connect with the rest of the play.
While the staging is very charming, full of character, humour, and perfect timing, it does drag on at times, wildly jumping between plot and time lines and adding insignificant chatter and drawn out physical moments needlessly. A tidying and tightening of the plot lines and selection of stories explored could really elevate this show, the basic framework is extremely interesting, but as of now unrefined and overstuffed.
