Bachelor Girls takes you back to war-torn London during World War Two, where four women gather to contemplate their fate when men return from the war.
The relationships between the women are wholly believable and authentic from the off, giving a strong flavour of who each person is. They are distinct without being caricatures, and the lines are drawn for the later tension from early on.
There’s a palpable tension, and the crucible of being in an air raid shelter puts all four women under an intense microscope. When the drama comes to the fore, it exposes elements of World War Two that are rarely discussed. Where are the queer stories? How did women fare who perhaps didn’t want their gallant, heroic husbands to come home?
These questions have a different answer from each and every one of the women, made apparent through tight dialogue. The monologues from each came off a little shoehorned, and Bachelor Girls could have benefitted from some smoother transitions between conflict and conversation.
This is most apparent in the dramatic final scene, which comes as quite a shock to the audience and draws audible gasps. However, the shock value is let down slightly by unclear motivations from Billy, leaving the audience guessing just a little too much on how things got to such a dramatic standoff so quickly.
Nonetheless, if you can suspend disbelief and go with the flow, the escalation of tensions puts a dramatic backdrop on valuable discussions of historical feminism, women’s place in the then-world, and gender stereotypes as a whole. Bachelor Girls is certainly unpredictable and leaves the audience guessing quite literally until the lights go down.
This queer slant on a well-trodden section of British history manages to bring new themes to the fore in an impressive and very well-performed play.
