‘Brides in the bath’ have their say in U of W production

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This article was published 13/02/2024 (626 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Drowning Girls, mounted by University of Winnipeg theatre and design students, is not a story with a happy prologue. A challenging, chilling and human story, the show begins after three women meet the same untimely end.

Based on the “brides in the bath” murders, a ghastly case of serial femicide that took place in Britain in 1915, The Drowning Girls flips the typical true-crime script, giving three women, Bessie, Alice and Margaret, an empowered revival.

The spirits speak and the monster who silenced them — George Joseph Smith — is nowhere to be seen.

“We get to hear the story from the women who lived this, instead of relying on court documents and newspaper stories from that time,” says Hope McIntyre, who directs third-year honours students Mary Catagas, Renelle Chartier and Jen Gieg in the free, five-night run at the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film. “The cast felt this real desire to honour these women and tell their stories in a way that preserves their voice.”

In selecting The Drowning Girls, a production with difficult and upsetting subject matter, McIntyre says the U of W wanted to make sure its students had a voice, too.

For the last few years, the university has been using a consent-based process in choosing its student-produced works, allowing acting students to read the works and ensure their comfort with the subject matter.

McIntyre says it’s a sign of wider changes happening in the theatre industry, where there’s growing emphasis on the handling of mental health and the depiction of graphic content.

There was also extensive conversation about the continued relevance of the original case, as well as the play, since violence against women, sexism, intimate partner abuse and misogyny continue to plague our society.

Those discussions allowed the cast to consider the play’s values and explore distressing topics in a safe and open environment, says 21-year-old Gieg, who plays Bessie and at least 10 other characters within the production.

“This play is conscious of the way that true crime typically glamourizes the perpetrators, the abusers and the murderers,” says Gieg, who relays a favourite quote that “art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.”

“The play gives voices to the women who were cast aside, and allows them to find joy and camaraderie, even in the darkest of circumstances,” she adds, calling The Drowning Girls “the most emotionally and physically challenging show I’ve ever done.”

Written by Canadian playwrights Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson and Daniela Vlaskalic, who also wrote a play, entitled Comrades, about the famed Sacco and Vanzetti trial, The Drowning Girls debuted at the 1999 Edmonton Fringe Festival. With its actors performing from the confines of three filled, clawfoot tubs, the production made a considerable splash on the national fringe circuit.

Now, U of W students will put their own stamp on the production. Laina Judge did the set design, while Josie Garton developed and designed the costumes. Faculty member Adam Parboosingh did the lighting design, with every bit of technical work during the run in the hands of junior and senior production students.

Admission is free, but the students will be collecting donations for the Clan Mothers Healing Village, a self-governed, land-based community organization helping women, girls, two-spirit and transgender people with programming, training and social enterprise opportunities on Treaty 1 territory.

At Saturday’s performance, audio-description for the visually impaired will also be available through VIEW Winnipeg, a first for the university’s theatre and film department.

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com