I knew nothing about Muriel Spark (the author) prior to this show. Apparently this and the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie are classics and much loved by her fans, dealing with the era of post war rationing and the proper education of young girls.
The story in this play is set in two different times, the first at the end of the second world war and the other six years later. Confusingly the two periods are mixed together and there is a date projected onto a screen advising when the later scenes are being shown. Sadly, the screens can only be clearly seen from the centre third of the audience and those of us on the sides miss out on a lot of visual detail. The stage is used to the full with the aforementioned screens being moved around to create walls, doors, filmscreens and other more ephemeral barriers, but is only fully accessible for those in the centre section of the theatre.
The cast of the play do an excellent job with the story of a young girl coming down from Scotland to join a girls hostel at the end of the second world war (the Slender Means refers both to the rationing of food and material due to the war and the financial situation of the young ladies being portrayed here). The hostel is an old building abutting a secret military establishment. The military personnel socialise with the girls and one young man in particular becomes a very close friend to them. When tragedy strikes at the end of the play, we see what happens to the man ( his fate is revealed at the start but the reasons only become clear at the end if you get what I mean).
I was confused about events for the first part of the show but it all became clear and, as a whole, it is a funny and sad look at a time that touched so many. Well worth the effort if you need a good tearjerker with some humour and romance.
Visit the Fringe website for bookings details.