Will And The Ghost

 

Note: this play was written by Aoise Stratford and Conal Condren, her father whose bio is posted below.  

 

 

 

 

 

Synopsis:

Late one evening, Will Shakespeare is rescued from muggers by a mysterious stranger. In exchange for his good deed, the stranger (an out of work actor, or so he says) asks that Will write a part for him. He wants to play a spirit...but Will doesn't believe in ghosts. What results is a battle of wills, culminating in blackmail, revelation, and inspiration.

Character List:

Setting & Requirements:

This play is set in Will's lodgings in 16th century London. Comfortable, but not extravagent. A desk. A comfortable chair, a fireplace, and various props; a globe, paper, wine, a dagger, etc. The play has three scenes but the same set remains throughout. It is possible to have the same actor play both Ghost and Thomas. Running time is about 45 minutes.

Bio for Conal Condren:

 Conal Condren was born in Greenwich London, and educated at the LSE. He has worked mainly on political argument and language of early-modern Europe, and on the philosophy of intellectual history. He is a fellow of both the Australian Academy of the Humanities and of The Social Sciences in Australia; he has been a visiting Fellow at Clare Hall and Churchill College, Cambridge, and at The Huntington Library, California. He is currently Scientia Professor of Politics and International Relations, University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia. Among his books are The Status and Appraisal of Classic Texts, Princeton 1985; George Lawson's Politica and the English Revolution, Cambridge, 1989; Satire, Lies and Politics, Macmillan London, 1997. He is currently working on a large scale study of office holding and oath-taking, a smaller volume of short stories, revising earlier poetry and improving his potting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Production History:

This play had its first developmental reading, hosted by the authors and Dawson Moore (lit manager of the Eureka, he also read for us) and free to the public in October 2000 at San Francisco's Eureka Theatre.

In May 2001, Will And The Ghost won the Pennsylvania Playhouse Premiere One-Act Competition.

In June it received a staged reading at the New Britain Repertory Theatre Company's one act festival and took first place.

It was placed as a finalist in the South West Theatre Association National New Play Contest in September, 2001.

In July 2002, Will and The Ghost received its off-off Broadway premiere at the Midtown International Theatre Festival with Tobacco Bar Theatre Company. This production was directed by Christian Ely and featured Eric Altheide as Will, Greg Sims as the Ghost, and Matt Yeager as Thomas.

Backstage.com called it "a roller-caoster...this one act may well be the best play of the Midtown International Theatre Festival."

postcard graphic for the Midtown Festival Production.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Play Cafe in Seatlle Washington did a performance at Cafe on The Terrace in 2005. Ian Clark starred as Will.

In the late summer of 2008 Will and The Ghost will receive its European premiere with the Brussells Shakespeare Society in Belgium, where it will be part of an evening exploring Shakespeare's ghostly characters.

In January 2009 it will be produced at the Sands Theatre in Florida.

Sample Dialogue:

After a night at the pub, Will has been rescued from thieves and pickpockets by a stranger (GHOST) who has accompanied him home and is now helping himself to Will's wine and trying to convince Will that he should write more roles for Ghosts.

GHOST: So, Will Shakespeare. For argument's sake. Give me a scenario, a play or but an idea for one, and let me show you how we could work together to improve on it.

WILL:   I suppose I could humor you with such a thing.

GHOST: Think not of it as humor, my good man of business, but as payment of a debt. After all.... You owe me.

WILL:   Very well. The new play I am working on is a tragedy. It needs a little work. It is still in its infancy. Tis about a prince.

GHOST: A young courtier, in and out of love, despair and battle?

WILL: My speciality.

GHOST: (unimpressed) Amazing.

WILL: Aye, but here's the rub. The prince seeks vengeance for his murdered father and he believes the murderer to be his uncle, his mother's lover.

GHOST: His uncle, or his mother's lover? Speak clearly.

WILL :See, you are not as clever as you thought. The perpetrator is both. Tis very Greek. But I do not expect you to be well versed in classic themes.

GHOST: Go on.

WILL: That's as far as I've got.

GHOST: Greek you say?

WILL: Aye.

GHOST: It's not bad.   (He goes to Will's desk and begins inspecting a globe that sits upon it ) But Greece will hardly do. Tis much over done. Twas not that comedy of yours set in Greece? An error of judgment. Euripedes took all the best locations.   Have you somewhere else in mind?

WILL: London?   (a pause) Unless you have a better suggestion?

GHOST: ( Spinning the globe ) Try Denmark. Tis to the North. No one knows of it, so it has an air of mystery.

WILL: Yes! Denmark. Surely they would have princes there.

GHOST: No doubt they have mothers and uncles too.

WILL: Indeed, they would. So the prince of Denmark is seeking vengeance for /

GHOST: His father's murder, yes. Let's move on.

WILL: ( a pause ) He is seeking vengeance.

GHOST: That's really it?

WILL: So far. I've been working on other things.

 

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