What if the most dangerous man you ever meet looks polite, charming—and painfully ordinary?
This February, Kanata Theatre dares audiences to confront that question with The Drowning Girls, a haunting true-crime drama based on real events that are as disturbing today as they were over a century ago. Running from February 4 to 14, this production is not just theatre—it is an accusation, a reckoning, and a chilling reminder of how easily evil can hide behind respectability.
Three Wives. One Husband. No Escape.
The Drowning Girls tells the true story of Bessie, Alice, and Margaret—three women bound together by marriage to the same man, George Joseph Smith, and by a far darker fate. Each woman trusted him. Each believed in the promise of marriage. Each ended up dead.
Their crime? Loving the wrong man.
Smith was no shadowy villain. He was clean-cut, well-spoken, and convincing enough to marry multiple women under false identities—then murder them in bathtubs, disguising their deaths as tragic accidents. It worked. Again. And again.
This Is Not a Play About a Killer
What makes The Drowning Girls unsettling is not the brutality of the crimes—it’s where the spotlight is placed. The murderer remains mostly in the shadows. Instead, the stage belongs to the women he silenced.
Appearing from the afterlife, the three wives recount their courtships, their hopes, their doubts, and the moment when love turned lethal. Through poetic language, dark humour, and stark imagery, they reconstruct their lives piece by piece—refusing to be reduced to footnotes in a criminal case.
This is theatre that reclaims stolen voices.
Why This Story Still Hurts
Though set in early 20th-century England, the themes feel alarmingly current. The play exposes the social pressures that taught women to be polite, trusting, and obedient—even when something felt wrong. It asks uncomfortable questions about how manipulation is mistaken for romance, and how society often notices patterns of abuse only after it’s too late.
The horror here isn’t just historical. It’s familiar.
An Intimate, Unsettling Experience
Kanata Theatre’s production embraces minimal staging, allowing the audience nowhere to hide. With little more than movement, lighting, and language, the performers pull viewers into a shared memory—one that is poetic, chilling, and emotionally raw.
At times lyrical. At times darkly funny. Always unsettling.
This is not a show you casually forget. It lingers.
Performance Details
📍 Venue: Kanata Theatre
📅 Dates: February 4–14, 2026
🎭 Matinee: February 8
🎟️ Tickets: Available at kanatatheatre.ca or through the Box Office at 613-831-4435