Becky Nurse of Salem by Sarah Ruhl - 4w, 3m
A dark contemporary comedy follows Becky, a modern-day descendant of accused witch Rebecca Nurse in Salem. Becky, who works at the local witch museum, seems to be dogged by bad luck. Is it a curse from her past? Or her inability to navigate her present? Looking for love and redemption through spells, pills, and a bartender named Bob, Becky is a contemporary pilgrim for the Lock Her Up era. A play about the legacy of misogyny, witchcraft, and even Arthur Miller, Becky Nurse is a truth-teller for our times.
Labels: comedy
posted by Jim Vogel at 8:06 AM
3 Comments:
Becky Nurse of Salem is a wild comedy which comments on a number of issues. Trump's first election win, the opioid epidemic, and Arthur Miller's manipulated treatment of women and girls in the Crucible because of his desire for the much younger Marilyn Monroe. There are witches, spells, and curses and time jumping between the 1690s and today. I wouldn't produce it the same year as The Thin Place, or The Woman in Black but think it deserves a serious look.
From Jean - I liked the play, and it's by Sarah Ruhl who is always a name-draw with our audiences. It follows the story of The Crucible but with a modern spin. It deals with drug addiction, and you really care about the characters who went through it. The set is sparse and there are few props. It could easily be done in the arena. The big drawback is that it has a number of Trump references with "lock her up" and witch hunts which are not appropriate at this time.
From Keven - I’m a weak ‘maybe’ on this play. I think it’s a hot mess but also a bit of a hoot. I can’t imagine much support for it. It just doesn’t seem to fit comfortably into what my, admittedly just growing, understanding is of the goals of TRP. That being said, if there were other support for it I would be fascinated to see the result of a production attempt. I think it does offer a wide range of casting opportunities and is very economically feasible to produce but it would demand a VERY HIGH level of cleverness in both staging and design to pull it off. I’m oddly intrigued by it so I can’t just say “no”.
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