Beth Graham, Natascha Girgis, Daniela Vlaskalic. Photo Credit: Cylla von Tiedemann

The Drowning Girls

By Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson and Daniela Vlaskalic

The Drowning Girls recounts the story of Bessie, Alice and Margaret, three of the many wives of George Joseph Smith, an Edwardian opportunist who made a living marrying women, taking out life insurance policies for them and subsequently drowning them in their baths. Three ghostly brides surface from bathtubs full of water, to gather evidence against their womanizing, murderous, husband by reliving the shocking events leading up to their deaths. As they make their case, they discover how they have been victimized not only by George Joseph Smith, but also by society at large. Full of rich images, a myriad of characters, a quirky sense of humour and lyrical language, The Drowning Girls is both breathtaking fantasia and social critique. 

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"Canadian playwrights Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson and Daniela Vlaskalic have created a bewitching play of remarkable theatrical inventiveness, thematic depth and range, and mesmerizing characters. More than that, their script is a triumph of aesthetic form and proof that visuals and emotions can propel a story just as well as plot.”

Broadway World HoustonKatricia Lang
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"Rich with historical detail gleaned from letters, newspaper clippings and what sounds like the actual court proceedings from when Smith was brought to trial, the play offers a fascinating and insightful look at at how society’s oppression of women contributed to the murders of these three. It’s grim but playful and very well done."

Ottawa CitizenLynn Saxberg
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“Take the Edwardians’ morbid fascination with death, murder and the macabre, along with what we know about the powerless and constrained lives of middle-class women (particularly unmarried women) early in the twentieth century, then add black humor, some woman-to-woman celebration, a bit of mockery and touches of real sorrow, and you have The Drowning Girls.”

Denver WestwordJuliet Wittman
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“The imaginative depth of The Drowning Girls is enough to take your breath away.”

Calgary HeraldBob Clark
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“Morbidly funny”

Chicago TribuneKerry Reid
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“A compelling tale of love, betrayal and murder”

Regina Leader Post

Production Details

3 Female:

BESSIE – also plays GEORGE, CAROLINE, JOHN, Dr. BILLINGS, Mrs. RAPLEY, AMELIA, MARKS and Sergeant PAGE.

ALICE – also plays JOHN, GEORGE, HENRY, Mrs. TUCKETT, Mrs. CROSSLEY, JANE, Inspector NEIL, and Mr. BODKIN.

MARGARET – also plays HENRY, the CONDUCTOR, Alice’s MOTHER, Mrs. BLATCH, Sergeant REID, KNOWLES, the CONDUCTOR, and Miss BRIGHTON.

Approximate running time is: 75-80 minutes

By Beth Graham, Charlie Tomlinson, and Daniela Vlaskalic

Purchase Play Script

Production History

  • Premiered at 2008 Alberta Theatre Projects’ playRites festival, Calgary
  • National Tour, 2009-2011 (Tarragon Theatre, Belfry Theatre, Richmond Gateway Theatre, Citadel Theatre, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Persephone Theatre)
  • Thousand Islands Theatre, Gananoque, July 2011
  • Turtle Lab Productions, Melbourne, Australia, February 2012
  • RCA Theatre Company, St. John’s, Newfoundland, April 2012
  • A little Box at the Top of the Stairs, Christchurch, New Zealand, August 2013
  • Strange Sun Theatre, New York, March 2013
  • Duke City Rep, Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 2014
  • Regina’s Globe Theatre, March 2015
  • Signal Ensemble Theatre, Chicago, June 2015
  • Mildred’s Umbrella Theatre Company, Houston, Texas, July 2015
  • Theatre En Bloc, Austin, Texas, September 2016
  • Urbanite Theatre, Sarasota, Florida, April 2016
  • Neptune Theatre, Halifax, March 2016
  • Arvada Centre for the Arts, Colorado, April 2016
  • Renaissance Theatre, Milwaukee, November 2016
  • Bag and Baggage, Hillsboro, Oregon, October 2016
  • Theatre Northwest, Prince George, BC, January 2017
  • Vertigo Theatre, Calgary, May 2017
  • Fourth Wall Down, St. Louis, Missouri, July 2018
  • Clifton Performance Theatre, Cincinnati, August 2018
  • Great Canadian Theatre Company, Ottawa, October 2018   
  • Western Canada Theatre, Kamloops, September 2019
  • Tatbikat Sahnesi, Istanbul, Turkey, 2020 – 2022
  • Magnus Theatre, Thunder Bay, 2020
  • The original version of The Drowning Girls premiered at the 1999 Edmonton Fringe Festival and toured to On the Waterfront Festival,    Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, 2000

Daniela Vlaskalic. Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann

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