Jan 3, 2010

The Verge | Building on the Abyss: Susan Glaspell’s The Verge in Production

In the following essay excerpt, Bottoms tells how he came to make a production of The Verge, the challenges therein, and the insight he gained from the experience.

Shortly after seeing my 1993 production of Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love at the University of East Anglia, Christopher Bigsby, my PhD supervisor, handed me his edition of Susan Glaspell’s plays and told me that if I really wanted a directing challenge, I should tackle The Verge (1921). After reading it, I politely told him that I would not dare. Perhaps the play was, as Bigsby writes, ‘‘a remarkable, if imperfect work,’’ which attempts a ‘‘radical revisioning of all aspects of theatre,’’ but I was also inclined to agree with his suggestion that it often...