DIRECTOR'S NOTES

By Joshua Bainbridge

In April 1902, Marie and Pierre Currie successfully isolated a new element–- radium. Thought to have vast benefits, radium was swiftly incorporated into all kinds of products. Health tonics, make-up, jewelry, all used the element. More so, it was put to use to cure cancer, not fully understanding the dangers it posed. It was the element’s glowing property that made it such a useful tool at the dawn of World War I. When infused into paint, that paint glowed in the dark. Radium could provide light to soldiers in the field without the need for lanterns.

The war effort now included women at home, painting the dial faces of watches and clocks, meters and gauges, so these instruments of war and survival could be viewed in the dark. Tiny hands, working hard to do their part, keeping the tips of the brushes fine by pressing them between their lips. If only they had known —the radium was poison.

Radium Girls introduces us to the real women, who lived in Orange, New Jersey, the American women from the Roaring Twenties determined to stand up for themselves and workers everywhere. The women who were poisoned by their work and courageously fought for justice for decades after the War. The women who were still children when their work began. Bodies failing, on limited time, the Radium Girls fought for workers everywhere … and made every second count.

Synopsis

In 1917, Grace Fryer becomes one of the many teenage girls hired to paint radium-lit watch dials for soldiers in the Great War. But when peace returns, a darker reality sets in. Painters are falling ill, and many have died quietly without answers. As she searches for an explanation, Grace encounters silence and denial. Determined to uncover the truth, she ignites a courageous battle for justice that demands her voice, her strength, and perhaps even her life.

Drawn from the pages of history, Theatre Canadore brings this true story to life on the David Fox Stage at Canadore College April 23, 24 and 25.

Content warnings include death and illness, dated views of women, loud noises, and flashing lights.

Recommended for mature audiences.