If enthusiasm alone is an indicator of success, there’s a very real chance that Gabriel Quigley’s new play will play to very packed houses.
Quigley, one of Scotland’s most talented actors, has adapted the Muriel Stark novella, The Girls of Slender Means, and it’s clearly been a labour of love. Quigley studied Spark as part of her Glasgow University English Lit degree and has appeared in Laurie Sansom’s adaptation of the Driver’s Seat for the National Theatre of Scotland.
But to say Gabriel Quigley is a huge fan of the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie writer is a huge understatement.
“I grew up with Muriel Spark,” she recalls. “My father, who was a teacher, had been a librarian when he was at Edinburgh University. Muriel was always in the house and was always very highly regarded by my mum and dad. One Christmas, when I was in my sixth year at school, my dad gave me her complete works. I don't know how he did because he didn’t have a lot of money on a teacher’s wage and had six kids.”
Gabriel Quigley has worked hard in the development process of taking Stark’s story onto the stage. Set in the summer of 1945, in the immediate aftermath of VE Day, The Girls of Slender Means follows the adventures of a group of young women who are ‘caught between hope and unhappiness’.
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They are not only skint, but separated from their families and forced to live together under the one roof in a London boarding house for the ‘Pecuniary Convenience and Social Protection of Ladies of Slender Means.’
Not only do the young women have to come to terms with their wartime experiences, they have to begin to imagine what lies ahead of them in peacetime. How will they survive? What do they have to do to make ends meet, and still retain a hope for the future?
Spark wrote of a new, beckoning world that had to be embraced. Yet, how to move on? “These young women have had jobs as secretaries in temporary ministries,” says Quigley. “They have had these important and busy lives, then suddenly the war is over. The story is about what will happen to these young women, and the re-negotiation of the roles of women after they have had their independence.”
The young women do their best to pretend the war never happened. They argue over ballgowns, they battle to maintain a sense of glamour and elegance - and get excited by the idea of male suitors. Yet, at the same time, they can’t deny the politics of their experience, and the social pressures they will have to endure.
Quigley adds: “These girls are all striving to succeed in life, but without any money. They are quite heroic in their commitment to keep going. And a lot of it is about the absurdity of youth. There’s a lot of humour in the story, but also a lot of depth. Throughout the book, there’s a lot about dieting and these women trying to make themselves attractive to men. She’s not afraid of telling the truth – she’s good at the old truth bombs.”
Muriel Spark was not afraid to tackle the major themes, such as the ripping up of societal norms as they stood at the time. “She’s also really interested in the idea of the erasure of ordinary women and their lives. For all the humour, the wit and the style, there is a sense of foreboding and instability. Muriel is brilliant at dealing with a lot of stuff and making seriously heavy points in the most sophisticated and elegant way.”
The writer adds: “It kind of hits you like a brick by the end.”
On television, Gabriel Quigley has revealed an acute touch for comedy with the likes of the Karen Dunbar Show and Still Game. She also brings a massive amount of theatre experience to her writing. Over the years she has appeared in a range of productions, from Cyrano de Bergerac for the National Theatre of Scotland to San Diego, for the Tron/Lyceum theatres. “I know the nuts and bolts of how a play works,” she says, smiling.
Quigley certainly knew she would have to flesh out the characters to develop them for the stage. And she knew instinctively to ‘home in on Muriel’s humour’. “My God, can she write a line. The funniest bits of the script are direct lifts of exchanges in the book. She has such a clever, satirical eye.”
And yet so much more. “She is a stylist and a true modernist, but she is a realist about life – and the surreality and unexpectedness of life. That’s where the great truth in her writing comes from.”
The Girls of Slender Means, The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, April 13 – May 4.
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