THE AFFLICTION OF GLORY

A Comedy about Tragedy

Written by Frank Dwyer

Directed by Corey Madden

Commissioned by the J. Paul Getty Museum and produced in association with the

Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum

August 19 - September 5, 1999

The Harold M. Williams Auditorium

J. Paul Getty Museum,

1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90049

 

What might it have been like for a woman in eighteenth-century Britain to find herself a celebrity, famous not in the usual way--as the daughter, sister, mother, or wife of a man--but respected and even venerated for her own achievements?

The dramatic genius of Sarah Siddons placed her in that unusual position. By the age of twenty-nine she had become a living legend. Her monumental presence inspired Sir Joshua Reynolds, one of the greatest artists of the age, to paint his masterpiece, Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse.

For thirty years, Siddons ruled as an uncrowned queen over the hearts and minds of her countrymen. Yet her undisputed glory did not extend to Comedy. Perhaps having achieved sublimity, she could not easily set it aside. Unable to induce laughter, she reduced her audiences to tears; men wept openly and women gasped, screamed, fainted, and were frequently carried out in hysterics.

What might it have been like to have been young, warm, beautiful, and vivacious, but inescapably identified with lugubrious Tragedy? And what lay behind the pyrotechnical display of emotion in British playhouses when Sarah Siddons commanded the stage?

These questions are explored in The Affliction of Glory, a new Comedy about Tragedy, which revisits the life and legend of Sarah Siddons. It has been written for the Getty Museum by Frank Dwyer, an Associate Artist of the Mark Taper Forum, and directed by Corey Madden, the Taper's Associate Artistic Director.

Performances August 19 through 5 September 1999

Previews: Saturday, August 14, 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, August 15, 2:30 p.m. - Tickets are $12