The Lights Are Warm and Coloured
It was a good day ebaying. This short play set at Maplecroft was a great buy at $4.10- of course the shipping from the U.K. was more than the cost of the slim volume. It is a first edition, but the condition is not prime, thus the price reflects that. Here is what the seller has to say:
This is an unusual play as it is written for two men and six women. Plays where the women outnumber men are few and far between. Set in 1905, it is several years after Lizzie Borden’s trial and aquittal, following the murder of her father and stepmother. She lives with her sister in another house in the same district. One evening she invites a number of players from a visiting touring company for the evening. They re-enact the circumstances of the crime, playing various characters involved. Later the Bordens receive an unexpected visit from Bridget Sullivan who was their servant at the time of the crime, and a crucial witness. It transpires that afterwards Lizzie gave her a sum of money. Why? To conceal her own guilt? Or was Bridget, in fact, the murderess? No firm conclusions are possible, but as the final curtain suggests, this solution might at least be imaginable.Characters:
- Emma Borden
- Maggie
- Nance O’Neil
- Tom Fuller
- Annie Beale
- Henry Webb
- Lizzie Borden
- The Visitor
The action takes place in the living room of ‘Maplecroft’ – a large house in Fall River, Massachusetts, USA, 1905.59 pages including all the usual additions one would expect from a French Acting Edition. Published by Samuel French, 1980. This is the first edition.