"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."  

                         --Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830)

Join us for a romp through Victorian melodrama Saturday March 6, 2010 at 4:00pm when Emily McCully, Nancy Rothman, and Robert Zukerman take the stage at Spencertown Academy Arts Center for a dramatic reading adapted from the florid prose of 19th century British writer Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

Lord Lytton (1803-1873), a contemporary of Charles Dickens, was a novelist, playwright, and politician who wrote in a variety of genres including mystery, romance, the occult, and science fiction. His work was funny, dark, melodramatic, and full of plot twists and turns that kept Victorians on the edge of their parlour seats. His literary reputation lives on today in the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, a tongue-in-cheek contest in which entrants are invited "to compose the opening sentence to the worst of all possible novels."

A Dark and Stormy Night tells the tale of a dashing highwayman brought low by his love for a beautiful heiress. From the foul dens of London's bleak alehouses to the exquisite country estates around Bath, join us as we ride with the mercurial Captain Lovett and the violent Long Ned Pepper in this sprawling tale of love, robbery, and betrayal. Heigh-ho!

A Dark and Stormy Night was adapted by local actor Robert Zukerman, who will be joined by noted artists Emily McCully and Nancy Rothman. Together they will endeavor to impersonate dozens of different characters in a fast-paced melodrama that will leave you gasping for breath, or for a "Dark and Stormy"--Bermuda black rum and ginger beer--the perfect chaser for an afternoon of Victorian derring-do.

A reception with the actors follows the performance.

                                             Emily McCully                   Nancy Rothman              Robert Zukerman

WORKS IN PROGRESS SERIES

A Dark and Stormy Night is the first in a series of three spoken word productions exploring new work by local writers curated by Karen Jahn.