Reviews are in for The Revlon Girl, Neil Anthony Docking’s play about four bereaved mothers of Aberfan who invite a Revlon saleswoman to their weekly meeting above the village hotel, months after the 1966 disaster. Revived in Park90 at Park Theatre for the 60th anniversary, with Charlotte Gray and Antonia Kinlay returning from the 2017 run and Maxine Evans directing again, it has not drawn a notice below four stars. The critics agree on a fine ensemble, on Gray’s Sian in particular, and on how much laughter the play finds in grief; the only doubts, from a minority, concern monologues that tip towards exposition.
4.4 / 5 from 10 criticsThe verdict: ten reviews in so far, and every one of them carries a rating: three five-star notices, one at four and a half and six at four stars, The Stage’s among them, for an average of 4.4 out of 5. Not one critic goes below four. What unites them is the ensemble, and above all Charlotte Gray’s Sian; what divides them, mildly, is the writing, which a few find expository or predictable when the mothers come to tell their stories.
What are critics saying about The Revlon Girl?
West End Best Friend
Reviewer: Phil Meikle
Phil Meikle calls it lightning in a bottle, and singles out the leaking skylight above the room as a stroke of writing and directing that says more about Aberfan than any speech.
“This is an angry, raw, yet funny and thought-provoking gem of theatrical excellence.”
The review rates the whole ensemble as powerhouse, with Charlotte Gray’s Sian the most heartbreaking of the five.
The Spy in the Stalls
“a moving, beautifully acted and unexpectedly warm piece of theatre”
Reviewer: Louise Sibley
For Louise Sibley, director Maxine Evans trusts the audience with the tragedy and keeps the loss lightly worn, which is what makes it land.
“The premise could easily have slid into sentimentality. It never does.”
The review finds the play genuinely funny as well as devastating, calls the company flawless, and names Gray’s late breakdown the evening’s most shattering moment.
Theatre and Tonic
Reviewer: Emily
Emily notes how little the bare Park90 room needs once the writing and the acting are this good, and picks out Hedydd Dylan’s troubled Maralyn as heart-rending.
“The cast is one of the strongest I’ve seen at Park Theatre.”
The verdict is a play that stays with you long after it ends, and one that needs to be seen.
LouReviews
Reviewer: Louise Penn
Louise Penn admires how Evans lets the story unfold without flourish, so that laughter, shock and tears arrive within minutes of one another.
“The Revlon Girl is a powerful piece of drama that respectfully touches on an event that wiped out a generation.”
The performances are called top class, from Gray’s devastated Sian to Antonia Kinlay’s awkward, restrained visitor, for a rating of four and a half stars.
The Reviews Hub
“The right shades”
Reviewer: Maryam Philpott
Maryam Philpott values the way the play puts the mothers’ experience at the front, letting politics, marriage and grief surface naturally through the talk.
“A story filled with meaning about the complexities of motherhood, partnership and collective sorrow…”
The balance of character comedy and sadness is judged well struck in Evans’ production, with each of the four mothers individually grounded.
London Box Office
Reviewer: Stuart King
Stuart King stresses that this is no moralising crusade but a portrait of four damaged women snatching a moment of relief.
“The shock of the play, is its warmth, humour and gentle humanity.”
The review warns that Gray’s account of Sian’s marriage will defeat anyone’s tear ducts, and calls the production sensitive, raucous and uplifting.
London Unattached
“A moving play about the Aberfan disaster”
Reviewer: Dan Paling
Dan Paling praises a script that handles class, loss and trauma with intelligence and humour, and describes the audience in tears by the final act.
“Gray’s performance lifts the play into the stratosphere.”
The reservation is that the writing occasionally turns simplistic and predictable beside Gray’s performance, though Paling calls these minor gripes.
All That Dazzles
Reviewer: Sam Waite
Sam Waite’s one complaint is that the dialogue grows expository when the mothers tell their stories of the day itself.
“A true ensemble piece, The Revlon Girl has a titular role but no real star.”
Otherwise the script, the pacing and the five performances all win the critic over, and the review calls it a necessary tribute to those who were lost.
Production photographs by Maxine Evans.
Read About Stuff
This critic finds the back-to-back reflective monologues a little cluttered, making the shape of the evening feel telegraphed.
“There are many moments in this production that are utterly superb…”
Even so, the review calls the piece richly characterised and a profound tribute to Aberfan sixty years on.
Also reviewed by: The Stage (Holly O’Mahony, four stars, “Stirring portrait of survivors”), whose review sits behind a registration wall.
Best of Theatre covered the company when it was announced in September, in Full cast announced for The Revlon Girl at Park Theatre, and the latest critics’ digest gathers the notices for Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Swan Lake at Sadler’s Wells.
The Revlon Girl runs in Park90 at Park Theatre until 14 November 2026.
For more information, visit the official website.
