[Playscript]: Holy Ghosts: A Play

by Romulus Linney

Seeking to retrieve his runaway wife (and the possessions she has taken with her), Coleman Shedman arrives at the rural meeting house of a southern pentecostal sect with a lawyer in tow. But his wife, Nancy, is unwilling to forsake the love and protection of her new "husband," the Reverend Obediah Buckhorn, and return to the brutal, hard-drinking Coleman. And when the strapping Reverend Buckhorn himself arrives, it is quickly evident that Coleman will not be able to take her back by force. Rich with atmosphere and the feel of southern rural life, the play blends humor and poignancy as it probes into the circumstances and stories of the various cult members culminating in a gripping snake-handling scene in which the cynical Coleman, to his own amazement, is himself converted to a true believer.

Genres: Plays

Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[M. H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Juxtaposition is the word that comes to mind:
A swearing ne'er-do-well in a church trying to get a divorce from his young wife, Nancy. But then she did up and leave him.
A preacher "Daddy" set to marry Nancy, though he's had a few wives before.
A lawyer who drinks for his heart.
A young handsome "god-like" buck who yet has no response to seeing a woman naked.
A church of singers and testifiers - but what they testify of is a bit unusual, the holding of diamond-back rattlesnakes ... an interesting literal interpretation from the book of Mark.

This interview with the playwright is worth a read too. [http://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/09/the...]