A dingy function room above a hotel bar in Aberfan. Thunderstorms overhead and a leaking roof foretell of a stormy June evening in 1967.

Eight months after the Aberfan Disaster, four women secretly invite a representative from Revlon to give a presentation and demonstration to their bereaved mothers support group. ‘The Revlon Girl’, from Bristol, is ushered in quietly, lest anyone might consider the mothers to be frivolous or uncaring.

As the evening progresses, the inclusion of an outsider sparks conversations about subjects normally kept hidden. Tempers flare among the four old school-friends. Friendly banter turns into bickering, emotional outbursts, resentment and anger, all interspersed with humour and memories of their school years. In a devastatingly sad situation there’s still a lot of humour to be found. Their monologues are beautifully written for each mother to tell her story.

Naïvely believing that her experiences might give an insight into the group, ‘the Revlon Girl’ quickly learns that she’s very out of her depth when faced with the raw emotions in the room. Recounting her own story finally gains her some acceptance from the mothers.

This is a heart-wrenchingly sad but funny, thought-provoking story.