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Post by jackstage on Sept 27, 2024 13:41:46 GMT
Hello all  For my final year at uni, we have been tasked with creating a Gothic performance (Victorian era and onwards). I am tackling a solo performance, and curious if anyone on here knows and Gothic or Horror related plays, ideally for one or two actors. The Woman In Black kind of style, thank you!!!  |
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Post by Dave B on Sept 27, 2024 13:51:24 GMT
Look at Poe maybe? Threedumb Theatre regularly bring their series of Poe short stories to various fringe pubs and they are excellent. All one actor shows.
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Post by jackstage on Sept 27, 2024 14:34:28 GMT
Look at Poe maybe? Threedumb Theatre regularly bring their series of Poe short stories to various fringe pubs and they are excellent. All one actor shows. Had a quick glance and what they do looks incredible, Poe is undoubtedly a good shout, thank you!! Love the look of Ligeia. If anyone knows of any more authors or companies, please feel free to share! |
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Post by joem on Sept 28, 2024 10:41:24 GMT
If you are creating a piece then the stories of MR James are ideal, easily and frequently adapted with plenty of monologue/dialogue which can be extracted intact and used. There are dozens of short-stories of the time from writers like EF Benson, Lord Dunsany, Sheridan Le Fanu, Ambrose Bierce (US) etc etc. Slightly later but still arguably gothic there's HP Lovecraft of course who has a number of stories - eg The Outsider - only requiring one actor.
If you need existing play texts MR James in particular is regular performed at the Edinburgh fringe.
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Post by jackstage on Sept 28, 2024 15:17:29 GMT
If you are creating a piece then the stories of MR James are ideal, easily and frequently adapted with plenty of monologue/dialogue which can be extracted intact and used. There are dozens of short-stories of the time from writers like EF Benson, Lord Dunsany, Sheridan Le Fanu, Ambrose Bierce (US) etc etc. Slightly later but still arguably gothic there's HP Lovecraft of course who has a number of stories - eg The Outsider - only requiring one actor. If you need existing play texts MR James in particular is regular performed at the Edinburgh fringe. Wow this is an incredible list!! Thank you so much! Some completely new names to me as well. Short-stories definitely seem the way to go, I'm off to do some research now! |
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Post by emsworthian on Sept 29, 2024 14:42:00 GMT
I would also suggest the ghost stories of E.S. Nesbitt. She's probably best known for "The Railway Children" but she also wrote some cracking ghost stories. You might wish to look at the website of Dyad productions. They perform one hander or two-hander productions around the country. Their production "Christmas Gothic" is available as a digital download. This is a one woman performance of three gothic short stories - I think one of them is by E.S. Nesbitt. This might give you some idea of how to adapt a short story for performance.
Elizabeth Gaskell, probably best known for "Cranford", also wrote some great ghost stories.
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Post by emsworthian on Sept 29, 2024 16:56:06 GMT
Correction: it is Nesbit. Not Nesbitt.
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Post by jackstage on Sept 30, 2024 20:21:25 GMT
I would also suggest the ghost stories of E.S. Nesbitt. She's probably best known for "The Railway Children" but she also wrote some cracking ghost stories. You might wish to look at the website of Dyad productions. They perform one hander or two-hander productions around the country. Their production "Christmas Gothic" is available as a digital download. This is a one woman performance of three gothic short stories - I think one of them is by E.S. Nesbitt. This might give you some idea of how to adapt a short story for performance.
Elizabeth Gaskell, probably best known for "Cranford", also wrote some great ghost stories.
Oooh Nesbit is an interesting name, hadn't realised that she'd done ghost stories previously, so I will definitely check those out! Thank you for the Dyad recommendation too, it is really helpful to see some solo productions for inspiration!! |
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