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] For a more immersive listening experience, please enjoy the show with headphones.

[0:37] Edwin Forrest: Oh, of all the places.

[0:39] Charlotte Cushman: London.

[0:43] Edwin Forrest: I said I was not to be disturbed.

[0:48] Charlotte Cushman: Leave me alone, I say.

[0:51] Edwin Forrest: Ugh.

[0:52] Charlotte Cushman: Are you deaf or just an idiot?

[0:54] Edwin Forrest: No autographs.

[0:55] Charlotte Cushman: Go away.

[0:58] Edwin Forrest: Oh, hello, Forrest.

[1:00] Charlotte Cushman: Don't mind us.

[1:01] Edwin Forrest: This will be brief.

[1:02] Charlotte Cushman: Wouldn't want to delay you on the way to the bar.

[1:05] Edwin Forrest: Cushman.

[1:06] Charlotte Cushman: I should have known.

[1:08] Sallie Mercer: Sally, could you please put those flowers in water?

[1:10] Edwin Forrest: You can't seem to stay away from me.

[1:13] Charlotte Cushman: Following me from city to city.

[1:15] Edwin Forrest: You know, if you weren't such a notorious prude, I'd be terrified that you're in love with me.

[1:19] Charlotte Cushman: No one could rival you for your own affections.

[1:22] Edwin Forrest: And I had this engagement booked long before you made yours.

[1:25] Charlotte Cushman: Oh, you've been keeping track of my bookings, have you?

[1:27] Edwin Forrest: I can't help it if the British have a taste for American actors.

[1:30] Charlotte Cushman: Some of us, anyway.

[1:32] Edwin Forrest: That was a rough audience.

[1:34] Charlotte Cushman: Yeah.

[1:35] Edwin Forrest: That was you hissing in the balcony.

[1:37] Charlotte Cushman: Of course it was.

[1:39] Edwin Forrest: Oh no, I was down in the orchestra, quiet as a mouse.

[1:42] Charlotte Cushman: Good God, I hate the English.

[1:44] Edwin Forrest: Isn't your wife a Brit?

[1:46] Charlotte Cushman: Her, most of all.

[1:49] Edwin Forrest: These limey pricks wouldn't know good acting if it bit them on the ass.

[1:53] Charlotte Cushman: They might have enjoyed that more than they did your performance.

[1:55] Edwin Forrest: What are you doing here, Cushman?

[1:57] Charlotte Cushman: Don't you have anything better to do?

[1:59] Edwin Forrest: Or has your farce of a Romeo already been cancelled?

[2:02] Charlotte Cushman: Oh no. Romeo and Juliet is still very much on, despite your best efforts.

[2:06] Edwin Forrest: I have no idea what you're talking about.

[2:10] Charlotte Cushman: A woman playing Romeo.

[2:12] Edwin Forrest: It's a joke.

[2:14] Charlotte Cushman: Nearly as ridiculous as your Hamlet.

[2:16] Edwin Forrest: My ridiculous Hamlet was a success, unlike yours.

[2:19] Charlotte Cushman: Oh, shut up.

[2:20] Edwin Forrest: Mine ran in Philadelphia for three more weeks than your production did.

[2:24] Charlotte Cushman: Mine was in a larger house.

[2:26] Edwin Forrest: And toured New England for another six.

[2:28] Charlotte Cushman: It was a sideshow.

[2:29] Edwin Forrest: Whereas yours was called, what was it? Painfully unsubtle?

[2:32] Charlotte Cushman: Lacking psychological nuance, like watching a gorilla try to enact the bar.

[2:37] Edwin Forrest: A woman can never play the truth of manhood.

[2:40] Charlotte Cushman: Never.

[2:41] Edwin Forrest: You're like a child playing dress up.

[2:43] Charlotte Cushman: It's an affront to real men.

[2:46] Edwin Forrest: Your Othello was interesting.

[2:49] Charlotte Cushman: I wonder how well you feel you can play the truth of a real moor.

[2:54] Edwin Forrest: Your maid is mouthy.

[2:56] Charlotte Cushman: Sally's not my maid. She's my assistant, and she may speak whenever she wishes.

[3:01] Edwin Forrest: Oh, these limp-wrested English morons want someone to elocute, to speak pretty words and gesture prettily and prance about the stage.

[3:12] Charlotte Cushman: But that's not what the Moor is about.

[3:14] Edwin Forrest: He's a man.

[3:15] Charlotte Cushman: He's about action.

[3:17] Edwin Forrest: He's about sweat and passion and violence and a hard cock.

[3:22] Charlotte Cushman: They're afraid of my virility.

[3:25] Edwin Forrest: History will prove that my Othello is the definitive Othello.

[3:30] Charlotte Cushman: Meanwhile, the pretentious limey twats can all flock to your little peep show.

[3:34] Sallie Mercer: Lovely job on the flowers, Sally.

[3:36] Edwin Forrest: They would look perfect on Mr. Forrest's dressing table.

[3:39] Charlotte Cushman: Would you? Briches, rolls, preposterous gimmick.

[3:43] Edwin Forrest: Ladies in pants, letting audiences ogle your anatomy and pretending that it's about Shakespeare.

[3:48] Charlotte Cushman: I'm the biggest name in the Shakespearean theater.

[3:51] Edwin Forrest: You're an insult.

[3:52] Charlotte Cushman: The fact that anyone dares compare us, the two great American actors in London, insults me.

[3:59] Edwin Forrest: I'm insulted by your grotesque pantomime of masculinity, and that anyone would put that on the same stages where I perform great roles.

[4:08] Charlotte Cushman: You're not even an actress.

[4:10] Edwin Forrest: You're a novelty act, a freak show.

[4:13] Charlotte Cushman: Don't kid yourself, Cushman. No one is coming to see your acting.

[4:17] Edwin Forrest: They're coming to see your legs.

[4:21] Charlotte Cushman: Do you think anyone would pay a nickel to see this leg?

[4:24] Edwin Forrest: Kindly shut the fuck up, Forrest. Get that tree trunk out of my face.

[4:29] Edwin Forrest: Your envy is transparent, as it always has been.

[4:32] Charlotte Cushman: You have nothing I want, Cushman.

[4:33] Edwin Forrest: Fine. I'll say it. You've hated me since Macbeth.

[4:36] Charlotte Cushman: My Macbeth was magnificent.

[4:38] Edwin Forrest: That's not what the critics wrote.

[4:40] Charlotte Cushman: The play is called Macbeth, not Lady Macbeth.

[4:43] Edwin Forrest: It was my show, mine, and you stole it from me.

[4:47] Charlotte Cushman: One stage isn't big enough for the both of us.

[4:49] Edwin Forrest: Fine. I have no interest in playing opposite you again.

[4:52] Charlotte Cushman: I've seen what you do to your co-stars.

[4:54] Edwin Forrest: You cut nearly all of poor Desdemona's lines.

[4:57] Charlotte Cushman: Oh, everyone knows she's going to die. Just get on with it, I say.

[5:01] Edwin Forrest: And change the whole script to ensure that you're always on stage.

[5:04] Charlotte Cushman: You don't care about these plays. Only yourself.

[5:06] Edwin Forrest: You're a ham.

[5:08] Charlotte Cushman: You're not actually a better actor than anyone else. You're just louder.

[5:12] Edwin Forrest: How dare you? I'm also taller!

[5:14] Charlotte Cushman: We'll never share the stage again.

[5:16] Edwin Forrest: But we have to be able to work in the same city without these childish hijinks.

[5:21] Charlotte Cushman: I don't know what you're referring to.

[5:23] Edwin Forrest: We know it was you, Mr. Forrest, who ran to the papers maligning the younger Miss Cushman.

[5:29] Edwin Forrest: Hmm, yes. Such an unfortunate situation.

[5:33] Charlotte Cushman: A reckless, promiscuous woman, a bastard child.

[5:37] Edwin Forrest: Rumors of whoring.

[5:40] Charlotte Cushman: But unfortunately for you, I'm not the one who shared your poor sister's shameful past with the press.

[5:45] Edwin Forrest: Well, not to worry. We've taken care of it.

[5:49] Charlotte Cushman: I've had corrections printed.

[5:51] Edwin Forrest: What?

[5:52] Charlotte Cushman: Susan's marriage and divorce decrees.

[5:55] Edwin Forrest: Ned's birth certificate with his father's name on it.

[5:57] Charlotte Cushman: And the papers were happy to run a nice long, juicy feature on Romeo and Juliet.

[6:02] Edwin Forrest: Star vehicle for the dynamic Cushman sisters.

[6:05] Charlotte Cushman: The Haymarket says we're probably going to have to extend before we tour the provinces with all the good press.

[6:12] Edwin Forrest: You can't touch me, Forrest.

[6:14] Charlotte Cushman: I haven't nearly reached the height of my fame.

[6:17] Edwin Forrest: I can feel it in my bones.

[6:19] Charlotte Cushman: They love me in Europe.

[6:20] Edwin Forrest: They say I'm the best American actor the world has ever seen.

[6:23] Charlotte Cushman: The only American actor capable of doing Shakespeare justice.

[6:27] Edwin Forrest: And that has nothing to do with my legs.

[6:30] Charlotte Cushman: I'm on my way up.

[6:31] Edwin Forrest: And you're on your way out.

[6:33] Charlotte Cushman: The English have seen through you, realize that you're nothing but a loud voice and a big body, with no soul or brains inside.

[6:41] Edwin Forrest: And you can't seem to bribe the British press to puff up your performances the way you could American critics.

[6:46] Charlotte Cushman: Can you?

[6:47] Edwin Forrest: Of all the filthy, slanderous.

[6:50] Sallie Mercer: Now, Sally, you know that Forrest's manager made those payments, not him. Isn't that right, Forrest?

[6:54] Edwin Forrest: Piss off, Cushman. I'm done with you.

[6:56] Charlotte Cushman: And your desperation has you resorting to such cheap tricks.

[6:59] Edwin Forrest: That umbra you wear is more of a gimmick than her bridges are.

[7:03] Charlotte Cushman: Perhaps leave the moors to Ira Aldridge.

[7:06] Edwin Forrest: I won't be spoken to like this by a presumptuous stage hand, much less a negress.

[7:12] Charlotte Cushman: What do you know about acting? About anything.

[7:16] Edwin Forrest: Mind your place, girl.

[7:17] Charlotte Cushman: Her place is beside me.

[7:19] Sallie Mercer: Sally has been my dresser for many years.

[7:22] Edwin Forrest: Stage hand dresser. Who cares? A Negro is a Negro.

[7:26] Charlotte Cushman: Was that your approach to Othello?

[7:28] Edwin Forrest: Or.

[7:29] Charlotte Cushman: Aren't you tired of all this, Forrest? We needn't be in competition.

[7:33] Edwin Forrest: The world is large enough for us both, provided we stay out of each other's way.

[7:38] Charlotte Cushman: Why not leave each other be? Quit the petty games, and conserve our energies for conquering the British stage.

[7:46] Edwin Forrest: Each of us to our own. Hmm? Truce?

[7:49] Charlotte Cushman: Nothing is ever enough for you women.

[7:54] Edwin Forrest: First, you want to go on stage. Ridiculous, immodest, arrogant sluts.

[7:59] Charlotte Cushman: Now you're just sweet talking me.

[8:01] Edwin Forrest: And we let you.

[8:02] Charlotte Cushman: We let you.

[8:04] Edwin Forrest: And instead of being grateful, appreciating that we've indulged your little whims, you want to play the men's parts too.

[8:12] Charlotte Cushman: Women like you, you take and you take and take and take, and then you spit in our faces and ask for more.

[8:19] Edwin Forrest: Men invented the theater.

[8:22] Charlotte Cushman: Refined it over centuries, created every great work in existence.

[8:27] Edwin Forrest: We've earned our place.

[8:31] Charlotte Cushman: You don't deserve to just take it from us because you're suddenly fashionable.

[8:36] Edwin Forrest: You won't be happy until you've taken everything from men.

[8:40] Charlotte Cushman: Well, I'm not gonna roll over and swallow it, Cushman.

[8:43] Edwin Forrest: I'm going to fight to keep what's mine.

[8:48] Sallie Mercer: Do you like the flowers, Mr. Forrest?

[8:50] Edwin Forrest: Oh, shut up about the goddamned flowers.

[8:54] Charlotte Cushman: Being women, we've had to learn all kinds of things while you men were out building the culture all on your own.

[9:00] Edwin Forrest: Frivolous things like embroidery and knitting, learning how to play an instrument.

[9:05] Charlotte Cushman: Do you know anything about floreography?

[9:07] Edwin Forrest: Is there a point to your droning?

[9:09] Charlotte Cushman: The language of flowers. Secret messages sent through bouquets. Codes.

[9:14] Edwin Forrest: Each bloom has a distinct meaning.

[9:17] Charlotte Cushman: Put them together and you can puzzle out the sentiment.

[9:20] Edwin Forrest: My sister and I learned when we were young.

[9:22] Charlotte Cushman: These are monkshood and woodbine.

[9:25] Edwin Forrest: Perhaps you'd like to consult Sherbil's guide.

[9:28] Charlotte Cushman: I have more important things to do.

[9:30] Edwin Forrest: Quite right. It seems like you need to go back to rehearsal if you'd like to continue selling tickets to this dud.

[9:35] Charlotte Cushman: Be gone, Harpy. You've had your fun.

[9:38] Edwin Forrest: Good luck with what's left of Othello, Edwin.

[9:40] Charlotte Cushman: Quick bit of advice. Restore Desdemona's lines in for two.

[9:45] Edwin Forrest: The play needs them.

[9:47] Charlotte Cushman: I promise you'll be alright if you stop talking for a page or two.

[9:50] Edwin Forrest: Out.

[9:51] Charlotte Cushman: Enjoy the monkshood.

[9:56] Edwin Forrest: Cushman!

[9:59] Edwin Forrest: Oh god. Would I could thrash this loathsome men as shrew as any other foe?

[10:07] Edwin Forrest: I hate the women.

[10:09] Edwin Forrest: The English laud her gifts, her thunderous voice. American brashness, newness, strength, and size.

[10:16] Edwin Forrest: Yet I, my actors' charm and gifts the same. With boos and hisses, am I met with all?

[10:24] Edwin Forrest: My scheme to crush the younger pretty thing. She's brought to woo the crowd has crashed and burned.

[10:31] Edwin Forrest: I'm thwarted by a simple document.

[10:35] Edwin Forrest: I must extinguish Cushman's damned light.

[10:39] Edwin Forrest: I must. She out God damned bitch!

[10:54] Matilda Hays: Mr. Forrest?

[10:55] Edwin Forrest: Oh, Christ, another one.

[10:57] Matilda Hays: Out, out, out!

[10:59] Edwin Forrest: Diggy, excuse me, sir. I don't mean to disturb you.

[11:01] Matilda Hays: I'm Miss Hays of the English Ladies' Journal.

[11:03] Edwin Forrest: Call on the theater manager if you want an interview.

[11:06] Matilda Hays: No, no, no. This isn't about an interview.

[11:08] Edwin Forrest: I don't have time for you or for the English Ladies' Journal.

[11:12] Matilda Hays: Get out of my dressing room and leave me in peace.

[11:15] Edwin Forrest: Go. Now, goodbye.

[11:17] Matilda Hays: I want to help you destroy Charlotte Cushman's career.

[11:20] Edwin Forrest: Oh. Well, hello.

[11:23] Matilda Hays: Hello.

[11:25] Edwin Forrest: You went after her sister.

[11:27] Matilda Hays: I did nothing of the sort. That was a mistake.

[11:30] Edwin Forrest: Susan's past may look sordid, but her marriage and her child were both legitimate.

[11:34] Matilda Hays: She's a fool, but she's not a prostitute.

[11:37] Edwin Forrest: All actresses are prostitutes.

[11:41] Matilda Hays: So then no one will care if she is too.

[11:44] Edwin Forrest: You're working the wrong angle.

[11:46] Matilda Hays: How's that?

[11:47] Edwin Forrest: You're not going to be able to shut Romeo and Juliet down based on Susan's sexual impropriety.

[11:54] Matilda Hays: You're going to have to do it based on Charlotte's.

[12:02] Edwin Forrest: I thought you were a journalist.

[12:04] Matilda Hays: Oh, everyone knows that Charlotte Cushman may as well be a nun.

[12:08] Edwin Forrest: That old spinster's going to die a virgin, never having known the touch of a man.

[12:14] Matilda Hays: You're right. She's never been with a man.

[12:16] Edwin Forrest: So what are you going on about?

[12:20] Matilda Hays: But she's no nun.

[12:22] Edwin Forrest: I don't understand.

[12:24] Matilda Hays: She. She loves women.

[12:30] Edwin Forrest: I don't see how her coterie of homely maids is going to help me ruin her.

[12:35] Matilda Hays: She loves women. The way other women love men.

[12:41] Edwin Forrest: She makes love with women.

[12:45] Matilda Hays: Lots and lots of women.

[12:48] Edwin Forrest: Well I don't understand.

[12:51] Matilda Hays: Two women can't.

[12:54] Edwin Forrest: How would they?

[12:55] Matilda Hays: Everyone knows that women don't have carnal desires as men do.

[12:59] Edwin Forrest: Believe me, they do.

[13:01] Matilda Hays: She does. But without a man, they they they couldn't.

[13:02] Edwin Forrest: Trust me, Forrest. She loves other women unnaturally.

[13:13] Matilda Hays: And how do you know?

[13:15] Edwin Forrest: I have letters that can prove it.

[13:18] Matilda Hays: I've blacked out the other woman's name for her protection.

[13:23] Edwin Forrest: Huh.

[13:26] Matilda Hays: My passion for you. The deepest of loves, your caress.

[13:34] Edwin Forrest: My God. She really is a freak show.

[13:39] Matilda Hays: We must have these published.

[13:41] Edwin Forrest: Tomorrow.

[13:41] Matilda Hays: I wouldn't.

[13:42] Edwin Forrest: What do you mean?

[13:43] Matilda Hays: These letters. These letters are gold.

[13:47] Edwin Forrest: Everything we need to shut down her little show and ruin her for good.

[13:52] Matilda Hays: If you publish these letters now, you've played your entire hand.

[13:57] Edwin Forrest: Better to publish something that lets her know you have them, that hints at it, and force her to cancel on her own.

[14:05] Matilda Hays: I see. Ah, then you have them in your back pocket waiting for the next time she tries to perform in the same city as you.

[14:11] Edwin Forrest: Ha! Or play a role you fancy playing. And you can make her do whatever you want.

[14:18] Matilda Hays: Quite right. Who are you? Why do you want Cushman exposed?

[14:24] Edwin Forrest: Her career ruined. Because she lied to me. Betrayed me. Made a fool of me because she's a self-involved, manipulative. Ah. Because she deserves it. What was your name again? Miss Hayes.

[14:43] Matilda Hays: Miss Hayes. You are an angel from heaven.

[14:47] Edwin Forrest: Thank you. You can write this expose. Get it in the papers.

[14:51] Matilda Hays: I can. It can run tomorrow morning.

[14:54] Edwin Forrest: And what do you want from me?

[14:57] Matilda Hays: I want to go on stage again.

[15:01] Edwin Forrest: Oh, another great actress.

[15:03] Matilda Hays: No. I'm not very good.

[15:06] Edwin Forrest: Well, that's refreshing. Fine. You'll do. Our Amelia keeps up staging me in the final scene. Screaming her damn head off, rending her garments and weeping. I need someone who won't pull focus. You can follow orders. Do as you're told.

[15:27] Matilda Hays: Yes.

[15:28] Edwin Forrest: See the manager and get your pages. You can replace her once Cushman's Romeo is dead.

[15:34] Matilda Hays: Thank you. Uh where did you get those flowers?

[15:40] Edwin Forrest: Hmm. Oh. Cushman and her maid left them here. Some kind of joke.

[15:46] Matilda Hays: Oh, no, these. These aren't a joke. These are a threat.

[15:50] Edwin Forrest: What do you mean?

[15:54] Matilda Hays: Woodbine. That's fraternal love, or sisterly love, if you'd rather, and monkshood. Beware a deadly foe.

[16:06] Edwin Forrest: I don't uh. Floreographically speaking. This bouquet means hurt my sister, and I'll kill you.

[16:15] Matilda Hays: Flowers can say that.

[16:17] Edwin Forrest: These two. Well, better leave the sister out of it then.

[16:35] Sallie Mercer: Though news be sad, yet tell them merrily. If good, thou shamest the music of sweet news by playing it to me with so sour a face.

[16:44] Matilda Hays: I am a weary. Give me leave a while. Fi, how my bones ache. What a jaunt have I. I would thou hadst my bones and I thy news.

[16:56] Sallie Mercer: Nay, come, I pray thee speak. I said it right. Didn't I?

[17:02] Matilda Hays: Almost. There's a bit more at the end. Good, good nurse. Damn! We perform tomorrow. We have to make up for that entire lost day, and Charlotte will be here.

[17:12] Sallie Mercer: When?

[17:12] Matilda Hays: Within the hour. And she'll be rested and ready to eviscerate me for a single missyllable. Um, come, I pray thee speak. Good, good nurse, speak.

[17:23] Sallie Mercer: Jesu, what haste? Can you not stay a while? Do you not see that I am out of breath?

[17:29] Matilda Hays: How art thou out of breath when thou hast breath to say to me that thou art out of breath? The excuse that thou dost make in this delay is longer than the tale thou dost excuse. Is thy news good or bad? Answer to that. Say either, and I'll stay the circumstance. Let me be satisfied. Is good or bad?

[17:44] Sallie Mercer: Did I miss something?

[17:45] Matilda Hays: No, I just. You're a lot like her. Do you know that?

[17:50] Sallie Mercer: Juliet? Your sister.

[17:53] Matilda Hays: Better not let her hear you say that. She's made it perfectly clear she thinks I'm a shallow, prattling nobody. And she, well, she's our Charlotte. No surname needed.

[18:06] Sallie Mercer: God, those Boston headlines. I thought she had a big head before.

[18:10] Matilda Hays: Oh, I can imagine she was thoroughly insufferable once Cushmania took hold. Not that I've seen much of her since then.

[18:18] Sallie Mercer: Well, we've been very busy. She's all anyone wanted to talk to me about. Our Charlotte. The biggest star in the sky. Wasn't it exciting? And wasn't I lucky to be her sister? As if some of her glory might pass to them through me. Silly. We're nothing alike, really. That's why we fight all the time.

[18:42] Matilda Hays: I'd argue that it's the opposite. Come on, let's run more lines. I want to be ready for tomorrow.

[18:48] Sallie Mercer: You've rehearsed your scenes to death. What about the Friar Lawrence scene?

[18:53] Matilda Hays: Miss Cushman, you're ready.

[18:57] Sallie Mercer: You care about this, don't you? You're not just trying to get it over with or placate your sister. You want to be good.

[19:05] Matilda Hays: No. I don't want to be laughed at, that's all. I want to leave this awful damp city with some dignity.

[19:12] Sallie Mercer: I think you'll leave with more than that.

[19:14] Matilda Hays: Thank you, Miss Mercer. Thank you for the other day, too. For the balcony scene. You listened to me. Got her to try it my way, even though she didn't want to. How did you do that?

[19:31] Sallie Mercer: Your sister and I have an understanding. She must care for you a great deal.

[19:36] Matilda Hays: And I her. Is that the reason behind your loyalty? You're a free woman. You could do anything.

[19:42] Sallie Mercer: Well, nearly. Why are you content being my sister's dresser all these years? It's partly our friendship, yes. She pays me very well. Enough to live better than most and send something home to my family. I get to travel the world, meet important people, and I get to be near the plays.

[20:02] Matilda Hays: Near them?

[20:03] Sallie Mercer: To hear them, think about them, bring them to life as they're meant to be.

[20:08] Matilda Hays: I don't understand.

[20:10] Sallie Mercer: My mother made sure I could read and said it could be a matter of survival. So as a girl, she'd give me books, as many as I wanted, and I would read them, to the exclusion of everything else.

[20:22] Matilda Hays: That sounds lonely.

[20:24] Sallie Mercer: On the contrary, I love to be inside the stories, to disappear into the lives of Elizabeth Bennett and Don Quixote, even Dr. Frankenstein. That losing myself, it was static. And then I found the plays.

[20:41] Matilda Hays: Shakespeare's.

[20:42] Sallie Mercer: And I read them all. Then I read them again. And as I read, I could see them so clearly in my head. More than any other worlds I'd visited in any other books. And one day, when I was 14, I saved up enough money to go see Charlotte in 12th Night when it came to Philadelphia. I was so excited. It was unbearable. I was shaking, waiting for the curtain to rise. I had waited all my life to see these plays on stage, to see them how they were in my head, and it was wrong.

[21:18] Matilda Hays: Oh no.

[21:21] Sallie Mercer: So I waited for her outside the theater, and I accosted her the moment she walked out and gave her peace of my mind for ruining the play.

[21:30] Matilda Hays: She must have been furious.

[21:32] Sallie Mercer: She was intrigued, maybe? That I had the nerve to say such things, or just that anyone would criticize her at all. We stood outside the theater for an hour, and I tried to make her see what I saw. How I had imagined Viola and the play. The sweet sadness of it, that it wasn't only a comedy about a girl dressed as a boy, but a story of longing and loss and the joy that only comes after sorrow. I made her see it as I did. Told her that the play needed to be so much more than it was that night, and that she had to change it. That the play deserved it.

[22:11] Matilda Hays: Did she excoriate you?

[22:13] Sallie Mercer: Far from it. She hired you as her dresser.

[22:16] Matilda Hays: Yes. And while I assisted her, we talked. I'd tell her how to adjust a certain scene or line. I'd see something she didn't, and we'd argue, and then I'd watch her understand. And as we worked together, she transformed. She became our Charlotte. I see the Shakespeare of my imagination made real in her performances. My ideas on stage in front of an audience, and no one knows their mind. I'm invisible and somehow on the stage at once. It's the greatest thrill of my life.

[22:58] Matilda Hays: You wouldn't want to perform yourself?

[23:01] Sallie Mercer: I shouldn't like the attention. I don't enjoy being looked at. And I'd much rather be the brains behind the most famous actors in the world than cope with fame myself. I'm happy in the wings. Anonymous.

[23:15] Matilda Hays: Well, I'm glad you're content, I suppose. To me, it just sounds like more of the same. Charlotte makes use of us to polish her own image, and then when she's done, she leaves us in the dust.

[23:26] Sallie Mercer: Your metaphor needs work.

[23:28] Matilda Hays: You know what I mean. Hasn't your sister been sending money to you all this time? Set aside savings for your son's future? Paying us off to leave her alone.

[23:38] Sallie Mercer: You really believe that. Do you even know what she did for you? When they published those things in the paper about you and Ned?

[23:47] Matilda Hays: I know she released those documents so my shame wouldn't sully her good name.

[23:52] Sallie Mercer: Not that. When she went to Mr. Forrest. She didn't tell you. Your sister went to the man she despises most in the world and made a peace offering on your behalf.

[24:04] Matilda Hays: That doesn't sound like Charlotte.

[24:06] Sallie Mercer: And when he denied her, she threatened him with severe bodily harm if he dared interfere with you again.

[24:12] Matilda Hays: That does. Think what you want about Miss Cushman, but she would do anything for you. She was willing to humble herself before Edwin Forrest of all people in order to restore your honor.

[24:24] Sallie Mercer: And in the next moment she was only too willing to what? Challenge him to a duel?

[24:29] Matilda Hays: When he insulted you, yes. You should have seen the look in her eye. I've only seen it once before when she had a fencing foil in her hand in the final scene of Hamlet. You will never have a more fearsome protector.

[24:41] Sallie Mercer: What I wish I had was a normal sister.

[24:44] Matilda Hays: Why would you want that? Let's run the lines for three, two again. Just one more time.

[24:50] Sallie Mercer: As you like, miss. Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds towards Phoebus Lodging. Such a wagoner as Phaeton would.

[24:59] Edwin Forrest: That's it, that's it. This time we're all well and truly buggered. My uh apologies, ladies, but shit, shit, shit.

[25:08] Benjamin Webster: Mr. Webster! What now?

[25:10] Edwin Forrest: My physician's records? My grade school marks. Did you know about this?

[25:15] Benjamin Webster: About what?

[25:17] Edwin Forrest: Of course you did. You know everything. I should have known better than to let myself be run around by a pack of women. The Haymarket is sunk, and me with it.

[25:25] Benjamin Webster: I suggest that you don't point your finger at me, sir.

[25:29] Edwin Forrest: So polite, and all the while, but dragging me into this den of iniquity. I haven't done anything wrong. It's been proven. Haven't you seen the retractions? Lady Romeo, they said a great idea. You'll sell out every show. Your theater will be in the black for years.

[25:44] Benjamin Webster: Bullocks. Mr. Webster, I suggest that you regain your composure at once and tell us what the matter is.

[25:52] Edwin Forrest: Really? I thought Englishmen had more dignity than this.

[25:57] Benjamin Webster: You're right. I'm sorry, miss. I just, just when I thought I'd seen it all.

[26:07] Edwin Forrest: Here. Look for yourself. She is your problem now, ladies.

[26:14] Benjamin Webster: Where are you going?

[26:16] Edwin Forrest: To find some gin.

[26:17] Matilda Hays: It can't be.

[26:19] Sallie Mercer: Oh no. You said you said it had all been settled. That Charlotte had fixed it.

[26:24] Matilda Hays: How can they still?

[26:27] Sallie Mercer: I was married at 14 and then left alone with my child. Oh god. How can anyone blame me for that?

[26:34] Matilda Hays: How Susan, but it's not right. This article's not about you.

[26:39] Sallie Mercer: Then what?

[26:41] Matilda Hays: By Miss Matilda Hays.

[26:44] Sallie Mercer: Wasn't that Charlotte's friend with the cookies?

[26:51] Matilda Hays: Susan. Surely this can't mean.

[26:54] Sallie Mercer: That's exactly what it means. Oh, good God in heaven. What are we gonna do?

[27:02] Sallie Mercer: Final dress rehearsal. I hope you're both as excited as I am. Sally, would you please make sure that all the props are in their proper place? I had no poison last night, so I had to stab myself instead. Can't repeat that fiasco. Set an extra one up left if you would. The rest of the company arrives in an hour. Susan, that gives us just enough time to run our scenes together. I think.

[27:23] Sallie Mercer: Susie. I think we're gonna be marvelous.

[27:27] Matilda Hays: What's wrong with you two? You look like you've seen a ghost.

[27:30] Charlotte Cushman: Charlotte? You should read this.

[27:33] Matilda Hays: What?

[27:39] Charlotte Cushman: Romeo and her sister is a Gather by the Ghost Light production.

[27:43] Charlotte Cushman: Produced by Jonathan Cook and Devin McSherry.

[27:46] Charlotte Cushman: Written by Jillian Blevins.

[27:49] Charlotte Cushman: Directed, edited, and sound designed by Jonathan Cook.

[27:53] Charlotte Cushman: This episode features the voice talents of Anna Demetriou as Charlotte Cushman.

[27:58] Charlotte Cushman: Charlotte McBurney as Susan Cushman.

[28:01] Charlotte Cushman: Paris Pringle as Sallie Mercer.

[28:03] Charlotte Cushman: Jonathan Cook as Edwin Forrest.

[28:06] Charlotte Cushman: Kezia Burrows as Matilda Hays.

[28:09] Charlotte Cushman: Neil Hellegers as Benjamin Webster.

[28:11] Charlotte Cushman: This program is funded in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

[28:18] Charlotte Cushman: We'd also like to give our deepest thanks to all of those who supported our Kickstarter campaign to help get this production made.

[28:26] Charlotte Cushman: If you would like to hear more audio dramas like this one, please visit Gather by the Ghost Light dot com.