Last week SBRHS Drama club presented their fall play, “Radium Girls.”
This play is based off of a real life crisis that happened between 1910s to the 1920s. Radium, a newfound radioactive element at the time, was found to cure cancer and perceived as a panacea. Everyday people would consume radium thinking it would improve their health. But before it was believed to be a cure for all, radium was painted on watches to illuminate the numbers for soldiers at war. Young female workers would hand paint these watches in radium factories. A technique called lippointing was used, where workers would lick the tip of a brush to create a sharp point. When radium is consumed and inside of the human body, alpha particles (tight little bundles of protons and neutrons) emitted by radium blasts skeletal material, breaking them down which explains the rotted jaws, broken hips, and crumpled crumpled ankles the workers were experiencing. The overexposure of radium on these workers by radon gas (released by radium decaying) in their work environment as well as consuming radium paint led to radiation poisoning, giving the workers the name “Radium Girls.”
I thought the play was amazing, it really explained the mistreatment the Radium Girls had to experience where big factory owners flaunt their wealth and try to brush off the side effects radium had on the workers. This play showed struggles women had to endure during the early 1900s where gender inequality was relevant in everyday society. Grace’s story showed that even though she won the case, in the end she still lost a lot. Her health deteriorated, lost her lover, lost her friends whom she had worked with at the factory. The radiums girl’s determination to push for more compensation and for the company to take fault for what they did to the girls inspires me to take a stand. Don’t settle for less and fight for more. Overall I enjoyed the play very much, it was very nicely planned out. I loved the reporters that would give insight on what was going on throughout the play. Props to the actors and actresses for doing an amazing job and props to Mr. Young for the production of this play.
