10 performers · 90 minutes, optional intermission
When Churchyards Yawn
A Divine Comedy
Synopsis
Shakespeare’s dead are not finished with one another. In Purgatory, Hamlet, Ophelia, Gertrude, Claudius, Polonius, Laertes, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and the old king must climb through the seven deadly sins, building their own staircase toward Heaven while reckoning with the damage they did in life. A divine comedy about blame, forgiveness, Grace, and the inconvenient fact that salvation may be a group project.
At a glance
What a producer needs firstCast
10 performers
Running time
90 minutes, optional intermission
Genre
Comedy
Technical demand
Moderate to high
Availability
In the collectionLicensed through Upstage Left Press
Characters
10 performers to cast
Gatekeeper
Hard-boiled. Reading glasses, clipboard, quill.
Old Hamlet
Ancient and exhausted.
Polonius
Ancient and befuddled.
Rosencrantz
Feels like a nitwit.
Guildenstern
Blames Rosencrantz.
Ophelia
Innocent and furious.
Gertrude
Spitting mad.
Claudius
Younger than Hamlet Senior, nauseatingly contrite.
Laertes
Charming and profoundly codependent.
Hamlet
Last to arrive, not finished with anybody.
Staging and technical requirementsModerate to high
Physical ensemble staging. Medieval detritus and theatrical junk gradually transform into an uneven staircase toward a blue portal to Heaven, with a contrasting red portal to Hell.
What you will need
- A company of 10 performers
- A slot of 90 minutes, optional intermission
- Technical capacity described as moderate to high
- 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
Pairs directly with a Hamlet unit. Students meet the play’s dead as people with unfinished arguments rather than as plot outcomes, which reopens the text for discussion. Ten roles of comparable weight make it workable for a full class.
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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