by René-Charles Guilbert de Pixérécourt
translated by Daniel Gerould
directed by Jessica Silsby Brater
“If cheesy haunted houses and Halloween horror aren’t your thing, this production of a newly translated 1829 French melodrama is artistically ambitious and intellectually and emotionally engaging, as well as providing seasonally appropriate, good gruesome fun (there is comedy to be had here, too). It’s well worth seeing.” – New York Theatre Review
Our creative team has been interviewed in The Brooklyn Rail and NYTheatre.com!
Polybe + Seats was proud to present the English-language debut of René-Charles Guilbert de Pixérécourt’s sinister 1829 melodrama at the Old Stone House in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
View photos of the production here.
Alice Butler, a young orphan working as a serving girl in her aunt’s inn, is torn. Two of the inn’s lodgers – the wealthy Sir Jack Spleen and the poor but dashing medical student Edward Belton – are vying for her attention. As their competition takes a dark turn, it is soon not simply Alice’s future that is at stake, but her very life. Arriving in time for the Halloween season, this sinister French melodrama from 1829 is René-Charles Guilbert de Pixérécourt’s take on one of the most gruesome and notorious scandals of his day – the Burke & Hare murders, in which the victims’ corpses were sold for use in medical dissections.
Presenting the play for the first time in English anywhere, Polybe + Seats further explored its backdrop – a moment in medical history when doctors and anatomists routinely paid top dollar for the freshest corpses available. Moving between London and the Scottish Highlands, this alternately bizarre, hilarious, and heartbreaking story explores the meaning of “sacrifice” by asking, “What are you willing to give to get what you want?”
October 20th to November 13th
Thursday-Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm
The Old Stone House
5th Avenue and 3rd Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn
All seats $18
Produced by Catherine Wallach
Starring Elaine O’Brien, Avi Glickstein, Kate Reilly, Sarah Sakaan, Lindsay Torrey*, and Ari Vigoda (Jenni Lerche performing November 5th)
Additional scenes and lyrics by Libby Emmons, Avi Glickstein, and Katya Schapiro
Set and prop design by Danielle Baskin, assisted by Mitch Ost
Lighting design by Natalie Robin, assisted by Marika Kent
Costume design by Karen Boyer and Bevan Dunbar, assisted by Aileen Abercrombie
Sound design and composition by Kate Marvin
Choreography by Lindsay Torrey
Dramaturgy by Miriam Felton-Dansky with Katya Schapiro
Produced by Catherine Wallach
Production managed by Natalie Robin and Catherine Wallach
Stage management/assistant direction by Alyson Fortner, assisted by Lia Burrell