Renaissance Theaterworks presents "The Drowning Girls"

Three bathtubs, three women, three murders 

The Drowning Girls opens with a gasp for air, as the play by Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson, and Daniela Vlaskalic follows the real-life murders of three English women in the early 20th century. Bessie, Alice, and Margaret each married con man George Joseph Smith, who took them for all they were worth before drowning them in a bathtub. The media sensationalized the murders, calling the victims the "Brides in the Bath" — kinda catchy. The play comes at the right time in our own pop culture, with podcasts like Serial and Netflix originals like Making a Murderer fueling our fascination for the stories surrounding such unthinkable tragedy. Clearly this isn't a new phenomenon. 

The stage at Milwaukee's Renaissance Theaterworks is set with three bathtubs. Smith's late wives burst to the surface in the first moments of the play. There's an instant camaraderie between them as they dive into the cathartic telling of how they came to meet their watery end. Bessie, Alice, and Margaret (played by Elyse Endelman, Susie Duecker, and Marcee Doherty-Elst, respectively) each had their reasons to leap into Smith's arms: Love, freedom, and a last chance. It's troubling to hear the women speak of their position in society pre-Smith — pitiful spinsters, trapped in a man's world, hopeless.

In a way, they didn't so much leap into their murder's arms — rather, society pushed them. As a woman in 1912, if you didn't have a man, you had nothing, or were a burden to your family. One small part of the play that really struck me was when Smith takes Alice's money, saying he'll keep it for her, since she hasn't any pockets. 

The Drowning Girls skips around, taking us through the days and weeks leading up to each murder as told by the victims and those closest to them. Actors Edelman, Duecker, and Doherty-Elst each take on half-a-dozen characters, including their own murderer, to give us the entire scope of their stories. They speak of their position in life, how they met Smith, how he swept them off their feet — then how he came between them and their families and grew controlling, forcing them to sign wills and take out life insurance policies. 

We see the women fall in love with Smith — or at least the freedom he signifies. As Bessie, Endelman gives a most moving and sincere performance. She wears her breaking heart on her sleeve as she recounts the whirlwind romance, her hopes, her dreams — and how Smith smashed them all by leaving her three weeks into their marriage, only to make a murderous return one year later. Duecker's youthful Alice is an absolute delight through all the morbid sadness, and Doherty-Elst as Margaret makes you ache for her and the fact that she felt this awful man was her last chance at happiness. 

You might also ache for the actors themselves, who are repeatedly plunged or doused with water throughout the show while donning crisp white wedding gowns. But don't ache too hard — the production team has thought of everything, right down to quick-drying fabric and heating the bathtubs and pipes to keep the water (and actors) warm. The stage lighting casts eerie shadows and a sallow hue as the women approach death, effectively creating a murderous mood. Lace curtains sway in the backdrop — curtains that each woman rips from the rod as she reaches the point in her story when the wool is finally pulled from her eyes, seeing Smith as he truly is. 

Now to further applaud the entire artistic team behind The Drowning Girls: Save for the Lighting Designer, it's an all-female crew! For the past twenty-three years, Renaissance Theaterworks has been the only professional theater company in Milwaukee dedicated to furthering gender equality in the arts — both on stage and behind the scenes. As we're on the cusp of voting for our first female president, The Drowning Girls is all the more timely and poignant. Renaissance Theaterworks reminds us through art that, as women, it's time to come up for air, breathe, stand together, and move forward.  

The Drowning Girls is playing at Milwaukee's Renaissance Theaterworks through November 13th. Information and tickets at r-t-w.com.