Alison's House
About the show
Metropolitan Playhouse presents a story inspired by the life and legacy of Emily Dickinson and a family struggling to balance their private life with their very public image. More…
New Year’s Eve, 1899. The Stanhope family is selling its homestead. Pillars of the community, they are also the family of Alison Stanhope, who rose to literary prominence after her death. A reporter arrives, hoping to find one last story in Alison’s possessions. Her surviving siblings want no more eyes prying into their late sister’s life, but her niece and nephews see everything about her as belonging to the world. When they discover a portfolio of hitherto unknown papers, the house’s disruption becomes a question of where family history ends and literary legacy begins.
"A beautiful production of the first uncut revival of the play. Not only has director Alex Roe given it a superb interpretation that highlights all of the play’s timely themes, but the excellent cast is giving indelible performances of the play’s vivid characters...Alex Roe’s splendid production with its accomplished cast demonstrates the vitality of Susan Glaspell’s play as well as its contemporary relevance. This is a revival of the highest caliber." Full Review
"Would I have awarded 'Alison’s House' a Pulitzer? Perhaps not, and in fact, neither would have many 1930 critics. They thought Ms. Glaspell’s work dreary and over-literary...I’ll go along with the literary, but not the dreary...This placid but eloquent revival spins them out admirably, and leaves the audience with the satisfying sensation of having enjoyed a full meal." Full Review
"I could do with less of Glaspell the sentimentalist, and might wish for a production with a somewhat lighter touch. But it’s fascinating and important nonetheless to be given this backward glance — to see what hasn’t changed, as much as what has." Full Review
See it if You want to think about how much and how little has changed in gendered roles in the last century You are a devote of Emily Dickenson
Don't see it if You want splashy or light theater
Also The writing is amazing - the play won the Pulitzer Prize in 1931
Cast & Creatives (18)
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