This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:02] Gather by the Ghost Light presents Romeo and her sister, starring Anna Demetriou and Charlotte McBurney, written by Jillian Blevins.

[0:12] ♪ Musical number ♪

[0:29] Sallie Mercer: Fear.

[0:36] Sallie Mercer: Hopelessness.

[0:39] Unknown speaker: Oh.

[0:40] Unknown speaker: Oops.

[0:41] Unknown speaker: Almost.

[0:42] Sallie Mercer: Switch sides.

[0:43] Unknown speaker: Oh poo.

[0:47] Unknown speaker: Grief.

[0:51] Sallie Mercer: Good, but round your shoulders more.

[0:55] Sallie Mercer: And raise them up and down as if you're weeping.

[0:58] Unknown speaker: Oh.

[1:00] Charlotte Cushman: Well, that doesn't seem right.

[1:02] Charlotte Cushman: Well, is this it or not?

[1:04] Charlotte Cushman: It's not how I would have you do it, but according to the diagram in the Shaftsbury manual, this pose is grief.

[1:13] Sallie Mercer: Excellent.

[1:13] Sallie Mercer: Next.

[1:14] Sallie Mercer: Wouldn't you rather be running lines?

[1:16] Charlotte Cushman: We're doing the balcony today.

[1:18] Sallie Mercer: I know the balcony.

[1:19] Charlotte Cushman: What I can't seem to remember are these gestures.

[1:22] Sallie Mercer: They'll come soon enough.

[1:23] Sallie Mercer: Not soon enough for Miss Cushman.

[1:25] Charlotte Cushman: And I'll be damned if I let that sister of mine get even a whiff of satisfaction over my failure.

[1:30] Sallie Mercer: Next.

[1:31] Sallie Mercer: Let's see love.

[1:35] Unknown speaker: Um this is Romeo and Juliet.

[1:41] Sallie Mercer: You don't know love?

[1:42] Charlotte Cushman: I know it, Sallie.

[1:43] Charlotte Cushman: Just give me a moment.

[1:45] Sallie Mercer: Um wasn't it like wrong?

[1:50] Charlotte Cushman: It is not.

[1:50] Charlotte Cushman: I've seen you do it.

[1:52] Sallie Mercer: That's male love.

[1:53] Sallie Mercer: Female love is like this.

[1:55] Sallie Mercer: Here.

[1:56] Sallie Mercer: Interlace your fingers and up under the chin.

[2:00] Sallie Mercer: Tilt your head.

[2:01] Sallie Mercer: Like this.

[2:03] Sallie Mercer: Too much.

[2:04] Sallie Mercer: That's it.

[2:05] Sallie Mercer: Now point your foot.

[2:06] Sallie Mercer: The other one.

[2:08] Sallie Mercer: There.

[2:09] Charlotte Cushman: Well, that's silly.

[2:10] Sallie Mercer: That's the posture in the book.

[2:13] Charlotte Cushman: No, I mean, men and women don't feel love differently.

[2:16] Sallie Mercer: Of course we feel love differently.

[2:18] Sallie Mercer: Our physiology is different, our minds.

[2:20] Charlotte Cushman: Well, it doesn't feel like that.

[2:22] Sallie Mercer: Come, Susan, we don't have time.

[2:24] Susan Cushman: No, Charlotte.

[2:24] Susan Cushman: You'll listen to me now.

[2:26] Susan Cushman: You may know more than me about the theater, but love is one arena where I am the expert and you have no experience at all.

[2:33] Charlotte Cushman: You're right.

[2:35] Charlotte Cushman: Tell me about men and women and love.

[2:39] Susan Cushman: It's just that when women love, it's more powerful than that.

[2:45] Susan Cushman: When we love, it's fearless.

[2:48] Susan Cushman: And that pose, it's weak.

[2:50] Susan Cushman: It's what men want us to be, not who we are.

[2:54] Charlotte Cushman: Alright.

[2:55] Charlotte Cushman: But you said you said that we're trying to play the truth of love.

[3:00] Charlotte Cushman: Love more real than what men and women are permitted to perform in public, right?

[3:05] Sallie Mercer: Susie, I'm sure you have lots of big ideas in that pretty little head of yours, but Miss Cushman, hush.

[3:12] Sallie Mercer: Go on, Miss Cushman.

[3:15] Susan Cushman: What if we what if we showed them the way love feels?

[3:20] Susan Cushman: Instead of how it's supposed to look.

[3:22] Charlotte Cushman: And how does it feel, Susan?

[3:24] Susan Cushman: To you?

[3:25] Susan Cushman: It feels like a tonic.

[3:28] Susan Cushman: A medicine.

[3:29] Charlotte Cushman: Christ.

[3:30] Sallie Mercer: Shh.

[3:30] Susan Cushman: It's stupid.

[3:31] Charlotte Cushman: It's not.

[3:32] Susan Cushman: I don't know how to say it right.

[3:34] Sallie Mercer: You do.

[3:35] Susan Cushman: Love feels like a tonic.

[3:38] Susan Cushman: It gets inside you and makes you better.

[3:41] Susan Cushman: Not like a beauty tonic or anything.

[3:43] Susan Cushman: Although I do adore Madame Yale's blood tonic.

[3:46] Susan Cushman: My cheeks have never been rosier, and my hair.

[3:49] Charlotte Cushman: Do you see?

[3:49] Susan Cushman: Not a beauty tonic, then.

[3:52] Susan Cushman: What's love's medicine?

[3:54] Susan Cushman: I mean, just it makes you stronger, energized, invincible.

[4:00] Susan Cushman: You can feel it coursing through you, powering you to be more, bigger.

[4:06] Susan Cushman: Love makes you as big as you've always meant to be.

[4:10] Susan Cushman: You grow to meet the other person to be all that they need.

[4:14] Charlotte Cushman: That's that's so lovely, Susan.

[4:18] Charlotte Cushman: Who makes you feel that way?

[4:20] Susan Cushman: That's her private business.

[4:22] Unknown speaker: Ned.

[4:22] Susan Cushman: Ned?

[4:23] Susan Cushman: I didn't even think you liked being a mother.

[4:25] Susan Cushman: Oh, I don't.

[4:26] Susan Cushman: Being a mother is awful, but I love Ned so terribly, I feel like my heart could burst.

[4:31] Charlotte Cushman: That makes no sense.

[4:32] Susan Cushman: No, it doesn't.

[4:35] Susan Cushman: These gestures, these postures, they make us smaller.

[4:40] Susan Cushman: But that's not what love is.

[4:42] Charlotte Cushman: So what are you suggesting?

[4:44] Susan Cushman: That we do the play without them.

[4:46] Charlotte Cushman: That's absurd.

[4:49] Sallie Mercer: Actually, it's not.

[4:50] Sallie Mercer: Part of what audiences adore about you is that you're untraditional.

[4:54] Sallie Mercer: They find your spontaneity exciting.

[4:56] Sallie Mercer: Imagine how exciting Romeo and Juliet would feel if the lovers stopped doing what was expected of them.

[5:02] Sallie Mercer: No gesture.

[5:03] Sallie Mercer: Just not the prescribed ones.

[5:06] Charlotte Cushman: You really think this could work?

[5:07] Sallie Mercer: I do.

[5:08] Charlotte Cushman: It could be a disaster.

[5:10] Sallie Mercer: And it could be brilliant.

[5:11] Sallie Mercer: Why don't we try it?

[5:13] Sallie Mercer: We're rehearsing the balcony scene.

[5:15] Sallie Mercer: Let's just see what it would be like.

[5:17] Sallie Mercer: Throw away the blocking and let yourself be big.

[5:21] Charlotte Cushman: Won't be a problem for me.

[5:23] Sallie Mercer: You've got to give this a chance.

[5:25] Charlotte Cushman: She has something.

[5:27] Sallie Mercer: A presumptuous attitude is what she has.

[5:29] Charlotte Cushman: Depth.

[5:30] Charlotte Cushman: She has depth and instincts.

[5:33] Charlotte Cushman: She's not the empty-headed girl you've made her out to be.

[5:36] Sallie Mercer: I won't go that far.

[5:37] Sallie Mercer: She's a grown woman.

[5:39] Sallie Mercer: A mother.

[5:40] Sallie Mercer: And she's a Cushman.

[5:41] Sallie Mercer: Make room for her to succeed.

[5:43] Charlotte Cushman: That's what you want, isn't it?

[5:45] Sallie Mercer: I want this play to be ready by opening night.

[5:47] Charlotte Cushman: Then I suppose you have to trust me, won't you?

[5:50] Sallie Mercer: Where should we take it from?

[5:51] Charlotte Cushman: How about good night?

[5:53] Sallie Mercer: Which one?

[5:54] Charlotte Cushman: Right, right.

[5:56] Charlotte Cushman: The first one.

[5:58] Charlotte Cushman: Good night.

[5:59] Charlotte Cushman: Good night.

[6:00] Charlotte Cushman: A sweet repose and rest come to thy heart as that within my breast.

[6:05] Charlotte Cushman: Oh, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied.

[6:09] Sallie Mercer: What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?

[6:12] Charlotte Cushman: The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine.

[6:15] Unknown speaker: Wait.

[6:16] Sallie Mercer: Miss Cushman.

[6:17] Charlotte Cushman: Which one?

[6:17] Sallie Mercer: Charlotte.

[6:19] Sallie Mercer: It's not working.

[6:20] Charlotte Cushman: Well, I told you it wouldn't.

[6:21] Sallie Mercer: Because you aren't giving it a chance.

[6:24] Charlotte Cushman: Come on.

[6:25] Charlotte Cushman: I'm being natural.

[6:26] Charlotte Cushman: I'm not doing the gestures.

[6:28] Sallie Mercer: But you may as well be.

[6:29] Charlotte Cushman: I don't follow.

[6:30] Sallie Mercer: It's still too much.

[6:32] Charlotte Cushman: I thought we were going for big.

[6:34] Sallie Mercer: I don't think big's the right way for you to go about it.

[6:37] Charlotte Cushman: Well, there you go, Susan.

[6:38] Sallie Mercer: No, it's right for her, but not for you.

[6:42] Sallie Mercer: Juliet is growing to meet Romeo, as Susan said.

[6:47] Sallie Mercer: What if Romeo makes room for that?

[6:52] Sallie Mercer: Let's her love in.

[6:54] Sallie Mercer: Receives it.

[6:55] Charlotte Cushman: That sounds awfully feminine.

[6:58] Sallie Mercer: So?

[6:59] Charlotte Cushman: That's not what I do.

[7:01] Charlotte Cushman: Certainly not what Romeo does.

[7:03] Sallie Mercer: Why not?

[7:03] Sallie Mercer: Sally, it's all right.

[7:04] Sallie Mercer: I don't know why.

[7:05] Sallie Mercer: You're so powerful on stage.

[7:07] Sallie Mercer: You're known for it.

[7:08] Sallie Mercer: What would thrill an audience more than seeing you give some of that up?

[7:12] Sallie Mercer: To see a Romeo who surrenders his power for love, makes himself vulnerable, loves bravely, like a woman.

[7:19] Charlotte Cushman: This is nonsense.

[7:20] Charlotte Cushman: I've performed dozens of British roles.

[7:22] Charlotte Cushman: Yes.

[7:23] Charlotte Cushman: And the whole point is how I transform myself into a man.

[7:27] Sallie Mercer: Is it?

[7:28] Charlotte Cushman: No one wants to see a girlish Romeo.

[7:31] Charlotte Cushman: And no one wants to see me be girlish.

[7:32] Charlotte Cushman: God knows I failed at that my whole life.

[7:34] Sallie Mercer: Alright, so forget whether they see you as a man or as a woman.

[7:38] Sallie Mercer: Just be yourself.

[7:40] Sallie Mercer: Don't try to play either.

[7:42] Sallie Mercer: Just listen to Susan.

[7:44] Sallie Mercer: Really listen.

[7:45] Sallie Mercer: Then say Romeo's lines.

[7:47] Sallie Mercer: And mean it.

[7:48] Charlotte Cushman: Ugh, this is the worst.

[7:50] Charlotte Cushman: From what satisfaction?

[7:52] Charlotte Cushman: I hate you.

[7:53] Sallie Mercer: I hate you too.

[7:54] Sallie Mercer: Whenever you're ready.

[7:56] Charlotte Cushman: What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?

[8:00] Charlotte Cushman: The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine.

[8:03] Charlotte Cushman: Good.

[8:04] Charlotte Cushman: I gave thee mine before thou didst request it.

[8:08] Charlotte Cushman: And yet I would it were to give again.

[8:10] Charlotte Cushman: Now just say it.

[8:14] Charlotte Cushman: Wouldst thou withdraw it?

[8:16] Charlotte Cushman: For what purpose, love?

[8:18] Charlotte Cushman: But to be frank and give it thee again.

[8:21] Charlotte Cushman: And yet I wish but for the thing I have.

[8:25] Charlotte Cushman: My bounty is as boundless as the sea.

[8:28] Charlotte Cushman: My love as deep.

[8:30] Charlotte Cushman: The more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.

[8:35] Charlotte Cushman: Anon, good nurse.

[8:37] Charlotte Cushman: Sweet Montague, be true.

[8:39] Charlotte Cushman: Stay but a little.

[8:40] Charlotte Cushman: I will come again.

[8:44] Charlotte Cushman: Oh blessed. Blessed night. I am a feared. Being in night, all this is but a dream. Too flattering sweet to be substantial.

[9:00] Susan Cushman: Don't.

[9:01] Charlotte Cushman: It's good, Miss Cushman. Don't patronize me, either of you.

[9:04] Sallie Mercer: What do you mean? I no one wants to see that. That's not what anyone is buying tickets for. This is better. If you would just trust us.

[9:12] Charlotte Cushman: Enough. This is my production. My name on the marquee. Enough fiddling around and indulging your amateurish ideas. Let's get this over with, and then we'll never see each other again. Wasn't that the plan?

[9:23] Unknown speaker: Uh hello?

[9:24] Unknown speaker: Hello. I hope I'm not interrupting. It's tea time, and I thought, well, I was passing by, and I thought, why don't I bring Miss Cushman and her compatriots something for tea? Is this a bad time?

[9:38] Kezia Burrows: Actually, Miss Hayes.

[9:40] Unknown speaker: Oh, I would I would just like a brief moment with Miss Cushman.

[9:43] Unknown speaker: Hello? And who are you?

[9:45] Devora Wilde: Oh, the little lemon cookies. I'm She's no one.

[9:48] Unknown speaker: No one? I I mean, uh, this is uh Miss Hayes of the English Lady's Journal.

[9:52] Charlotte Cushman: You didn't tell me there would be press today.

[9:54] Susan Cushman: You're right. I didn't. Excuse us for a moment.

[9:58] Kezia Burrows: I told you not to come here.

[9:59] Devora Wilde: I know you did, darling, but I I couldn't bear to leave things as they were. I'm sorry I was cross with you. Please, my love. Keep your voice down.

[10:08] Charlotte Cushman: What do you forgive me?

[10:09] Sallie Mercer: Miss Cushman, we really need to get back to work.

[10:12] Charlotte Cushman: Yes. Splendid. Then I'll stay.

[10:14] Sallie Mercer: No! We have three other scenes on the schedule today.

[10:16] Unknown speaker: One moment, Sally.

[10:18] Charlotte Cushman: Max, I cannot have this conversation with you right now. I mean it. Go.

[10:22] Susan Cushman: Charlotte, are you doing another interview?

[10:24] Charlotte Cushman: No, Miss Hayes was just leaving.

[10:26] Unknown speaker: You are the younger Miss Cushman, I assume.

[10:29] Susan Cushman: I am. Susan.

[10:31] Unknown speaker: Huh. A pleasure. All right, that's quite enough. This is a closed rehearsal, and my sister and I really must get back to work. But uh I why don't you arrange for an interview with the theater manager?

[10:41] Susan Cushman: Charlotte, let's start over from the top. Lovely to meet you, Miss Hayes. Thank you for the cookies.

[10:47] Unknown speaker: It's And you, Miss Cushman. She seems quite lovely. Why did you make her out to be such a dreadful cow?

[10:52] Kezia Burrows: Max, are you out of your mind? I explicitly told you that you and Susan were not to meet.

[10:57] Devora Wilde: I don't see why I can't just oh my dress. Charlotte, help me up.

[11:04] Unknown speaker: Charlotte? Miss Hayes, why don't I introduce you to Mr. Webster?

[11:07] Unknown speaker: Didn't you tell her not to?

[11:10] Charlotte Cushman: I forgot. I needed one thing.

[11:13] Unknown speaker: Now's not a good time, little one. Who is this?

[11:15] Unknown speaker: One thing. But you said No one. Wasting time with Susan instead of You said we could have another acting lesson today.

[11:22] Unknown speaker: No one. Like I'm no one? You leave everything to me.

[11:26] Charlotte Cushman: Oh, Romeo. Romeo. You never said Why, yes, you did. Poor Arthur. When I left your dressing room after our last lesson, you told me Eleanor come by on Wednesday afternoon and we'll be your dressing room?

[11:37] Unknown speaker: You wouldn't even be here if you promised me acting lessons. Shall I go on?

[11:42] Unknown speaker: Oh, just let me think. I see. Acting lessons.

[11:45] Sallie Mercer: Max. Uh she gave me acting lessons once. Enjoy it while it lasts, dearie. She'll put you through your paces. But her lessons aren't worth the price. I found out the hard way.

[12:05] Unknown speaker: Goodbye, Miss Cushman.

[12:10] Charlotte Cushman: Price? But you said they'd be free.

[12:12] Sallie Mercer: Charlotte? What is going on?

[12:16] Unknown speaker: Take a break, Susan.

[12:18] Unknown speaker: Is this her? Your sister. She's not as pretty as all that.

[12:22] Devora Wilde: Eleanora, Pet, please. This is not a good time. Once we've opened the show, we may resume.

[12:27] Charlotte Cushman: I don't want to take a break. I want to work.

[12:29] Unknown speaker: Now you want to work. This isn't Susan's fault or mine. But it's not fair.

[12:34] Charlotte Cushman: That fair for which love groaned for and would die with tender Juliet matched is now not fair. Come now, Nora. Give us just a bit more time, and when you come with me to the provinces, the hard work will all be done. You'll just get to stand there, look lovely, get romanced by me every night, and be Juliet. You'd like that, wouldn't you?

[12:57] Devora Wilde: Oh yes. Then run along now. I'll send for you later.

[13:00] Unknown speaker: Yes, Charlotte. That's a good girl. Are we really taking a break?

[13:04] Charlotte Cushman: Yes. No, let's get back to work.

[13:07] Unknown speaker: Sure, you're not expecting any more visitors.

[13:09] Sallie Mercer: Don't start. Let's start.

[13:12] Unknown speaker: We're doomed. It's all over. Stop the rehearsal.

[13:15] Unknown speaker: Or not? Uh shall I still go?

[13:17] Benjamin Webster: Mr. Webster. What do you mean? Why? Just look.

[13:23] Unknown speaker: You see? Oh no. A scandal sheet?

[13:26] Benjamin Webster: It can't be that bad.

[13:27] Unknown speaker: It's bad. It's terrible.

[13:29] Benjamin Webster: Which is it? Echoes of the week? Town and table? Uh the ladies' column? Give it here.

[13:36] Unknown speaker: Oh no. What? What have you done now, Miss Cushman? Come on, out with it. You insult me, mock my ideas, then your friends interrupt our first productive rehearsal in weeks. What indignity have you brought upon our show? Our family in the gossip columns.

[13:51] Susan Cushman: Charlotte, don't. I've had about enough of your superior attitude when it's you who It's not.

[13:57] Charlotte Cushman: What? It's not her, it's you.

[14:01] Susan Cushman: No. Read it.

[14:04] Unknown speaker: Susie. Read it, I said.

[14:10] Unknown speaker: Rumors abound that the younger Miss Cushman, a single lady of 23, has an eight-year-old child, which would have made her a mother at the tender age of 14. The actress's former beau is rumored to be Nelson Merriman, a man over 50 years her senior.

[14:28] Unknown speaker: Enough. Shut up and let her say it. Go on.

[14:34] Unknown speaker: Between her youth and the distressing fact that the child's father is nowhere to be found. It begs the question of the legitimacy of the child's birth and moreover, the quality of Miss Cushman's moral character.

[14:48] Unknown speaker: What else? That's all.

[14:51] Unknown speaker: Liar. Your lip always twitches like that when you lie.

[14:54] Sallie Mercer: Charlotte.

[14:58] Unknown speaker: Can an English audience accept the mother of a bastard child as the virginal pure heroine of Shakespeare's greatest love story? And what other scandalous acts might the younger Miss Cushman have committed that we've yet to discover?

[15:16] Charlotte Cushman: Well, that's it then. I'm ruined. Who will want me now?

[15:22] Susan Cushman: Susie. Don't you dare, Charlotte. You brought me to this horrible town. And worse, you left me at home with a mother who didn't know how to take care of herself. Let alone me. You left me alone to be married off to that lecherous old man, and look what it's done to me.

[15:38] Charlotte Cushman: I was only trying to.

[15:40] Susan Cushman: I'm your sister when I'm useful to you. And the rest of the time I can rot.

[15:44] Charlotte Cushman: We can fix this.

[15:45] Susan Cushman: It doesn't matter now. I'll never show my face again.

[15:49] Charlotte Cushman: Susie, wait!

[15:54] Unknown speaker: Does that mean I play Juliet this weekend?

[15:57] Unknown speaker: Don't ask me. I just run the theatre. I never know what's going on.

[16:10] Unknown speaker: Romeo and her sister is a Gather by the Ghostlight production, produced by Jonathan Cook and Devin McSherry. Written by Jillian Blevins. Directed, edited, and sound designed by Jonathan Cook. This episode features the voice talents of Anna Demetrio as Charlotte Cushman. Charlotte McBurney as Susan Cushman. Devora Wilde as Eleanora. Neil Hellegers as Benjamin Webster. This program is funded in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. We'd also like to give our deepest thanks to all of those who supported our Kickstarter campaign to help get this production made. If you would like to hear more audio dramas like this one, please visit Gather by the Ghostlight.com.