SOAP LAKE — If you’re going to the Masquers Theater’s new play, the cast has a recommendation. 

“Bring your hankies, because you’re going to need them,” said Tanya Sheelke, who plays the title character in “The Revlon Girl,” at rehearsal April 10. 

“The Revlon Girl” takes place in Aberfan, South Wales, in 1967, eight months after a mountain of slag from a Welsh coal mine suddenly slid down onto the village school. Four women, lifelong friends, all lost children at the school and are still coming to terms with it. Into this emotional whirlpool comes a cosmetics saleswoman, whom the women call simply “Revlon,” who just wants to have a lighthearted — and profitable — makeup party. The grieving mothers meet every week above a pub to talk and share sorrow, and invited Revlon to give some beauty tips. 

Revlon first encounters Sian (Kristina Allman), whose marriage has fallen apart since the disaster and who will grasp at any straw to regain her husband’s attention and have another child. The other women all deal with the loss differently: Marilyn (Marina Avara Sanchez) is on tranquilizers and consults mediums trying to reach her dead son; Jean (Tina Ferrill), the vicar’s wife and eight months pregnant, tries to find solace in her faith; and foul-mouthed Rona (Cassi Nelson) is furious at the world and doesn’t care who knows it. Revlon, who’s come in from England for the day, is single and has very little idea of what happened eight months earlier. 

“We have a wonderful cast,” Ferrill said. “These girls that I’m working with are just tremendous … I think we each bring our own energy to it and when we get all those energies together it’s just outstanding.”  

Director Marla Allsopp said she was purposely looking for a play with an all-female cast when she discovered “The Revlon Girl.” 

“I ordered a script, and I was like, OK, this is what I’m looking for,” Allsopp said. “It was so powerful, and the idea of these woman who are so different but bonded together through challenges and difficulties and yet they’re so resilient.” 

The story is based on a real event. On Oct. 21, 1966, a sudden landslide dumped a pile of coal slurry, 140,000 cubic yards and more than 100 feet high, directly onto Pantglas Junior School in the mining village of Aberfan. Two hundred forty people, most of them children, were buried alive under the rubble.  

The men of the village made a desperate attempt to dig the children out, but in the end, 109 children and five teachers died. One survivor told reporters that the men could hear their children’s screams fade into silence as they worked.  

It came out later that the National Coal Board, which was in charge of the mine, had been warned repeatedly that a stream underneath the debris pile had destabilized the ground and a collapse was imminent. Nevertheless, nobody at the NCB was ever prosecuted or even lost their job over the disaster. Donations poured in from all over the United Kingdom and the world for a relief fund, some of which the government appropriated for cleanup. The NCB eventually, grudgingly, paid each family that had lost a child £500.  

That shadow looms — well, like a coal tip — over “The Revlon Girl.” 

“Since (the play) is based on true events, you want to honor those events and you want to honor the true grief of the people who experienced those events,” Allsopp said. “They’re still writing stories about it. There are still people who lost siblings and it’s still very much a part of their everyday lives.” 

Jean bears a certain amount of extra guilt, not only because she has a living child and another on the way but also because her brother was a foreman at the mine.  

“She clings a lot to religion, but I think it’s because of her husband,” Ferrill said. “She tries to keep everyone in the fold as well, and it’s not always working She’s dealing with a lot of grief … I’ve seen some of the documentaries (about Aberfan) and it’s just heartbreaking. I have a lot of heartbreak myself, so I understand a lot of what Jean is feeling and I hope I do a good job of conveying that.” 

Sian is a people-pleaser, Allman said. 

“You’ll see a lot in the play of me jumping in between people trying to keep the peace,” she said. “She misses her husband a lot. After the accident her husband just can’t look at her anymore … She desperately wants her husband to love her again and she desperately wants another child. She’s very jealous of Jean.” 

Nelson, a youth pastor when she’s not onstage, said she had some difficulty with her lines as Rona’s dialogue is littered with profanity. Rona is angry at the Coal Board and at the whole world, not least because of the paltry monetary settlement the families received.  

“She just wants to forget everything happened and (act like) now is the start point,” Nelson said. “If you notice, she doesn’t actually talk about her kid. She’s dealing with a lot, (probably) for the rest of her life. She tries to use humor to (cope), not always well-placed humor.” 

Sheelke said this is her first play, and so, like her character, she’s a little overwhelmed on occasion. 

“This takes place eight months after the disaster, so it’s all very solemn and dreary,” she said. “So (Revlon) comes in thinking she’s got all the gusto and gumption to bring life back to these ladies, and very quickly realizes she’s in over her head.” 

“The Revlon Girl” is only one act, but it packs a lot into that act. The emotion, while real, is broken up with bits of humor and poking at the characters’ foibles, Nelson said. 

“Regardless of how they're getting along with each other, they still are deeply connected to each other,” she said. They've been friends for years (and) they still really care about each other.” 

‘The Revlon Girl’ 

Masquers Theater
322 Main Ave.E, Soap Lake
April 25 and May 2: 7:30 p.m. 

April 26-27 and May 3-4: 2 p.m.
www.masquers.com 

    Grieving mother Jean (Tina Ferrill) struggles to remind herself that God hasn’t abandoned her at a rehearsal of “The Revlon Girl.”
  

    An aerial photo of the coal tips above the Welsh village of Aberfan shortly after the 1966 disaster that claimed the lives of 116 school children.