1 performer · 50 minutes
Ghosts of the Gilded Stage
A life in the theatre
Synopsis
An aging theatrical veteran, Alban Matthews, facing mortality within roughly six months, examines the contents of an old theatrical trunk. Each object opens another room of memory, from first roles and old superstitions to artistic wounds, queer survival, failure, triumph, and the peculiar grace of learning how to leave the stage.
At a glance
What a producer needs firstCast
1 performer
Running time
50 minutes
Genre
Solo drama
Technical demand
Minimal
Availability
In the collectionLicensed through Upstage Left Press
Characters
1 performer to cast
Alban Matthews
A veteran actor, no longer young, with theatre in his bones, and terminally ill.
Staging and technical requirementsMinimal
A ghostlight, a weathered theatrical trunk, a Victorian parlour chair, a small side table, a clothes rack, a donation box, a rubbish bin, a skeleton key, and scattered costume and prop pieces. Lighting and sparse music or sound support the memory transitions.
What you will need
- A company of 1 performer
- A slot of 50 minutes
- Technical capacity described as minimal
- A performance licence, granted separately from the script
Themes
What it is really aboutI write plays to entertain in the truest sense of the word: to give serious attention to people, questions, and histories that are too often pushed aside.Jeanmarie Simpson, artist statement
In the classroom
A study in object work and in playing age. The trunk gives a student performer a structure of physical tasks to hang the memory work on, which makes it unusually teachable.
From the archive
Select any photograph to enlarge
Performance rights
Stage it
Rights are available for universities, schools, community theatres, festivals, workshops, staged readings, and independent productions.
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