The Jacksonian: A Play

by Beth Henley

In The Jacksonian, Beth Henley returns to the Southern Gothic storytelling that made her reputation with both critics and audiences. Set in a seedy motel in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1964, the play centers around Rosy, a troubled teenager, and Bill, her dentist father who has been living at the motel for several months as his wife, Susan, considers the disgrace of divorce. Fred, the motel bartender, and Eva, a waitress, are locked in a gruesome he’ll marry her if she agrees to help him evade punishment for a hideous crime. But Bill, turning to nitrous oxide to ease the pain of his life collapsing around him, is a convenient target for Eva’s desperate desire for companionship. At the height of the violence associated with the civil rights movement, these characters gradually reveal the shameful secrets and psychological turmoil just beneath the surface of their insistent Southern gentility.

88 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 30, 2014

About the author

Elizabeth Becker "Beth" Henley is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actress. Her play Crimes of the Heart won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 1981 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play, and a nomination for a Tony Award.

Reviews

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't really do anything for me :(
I found the language to be a bit stilted and most of the characters unredeemable, so I really didn't care what happened to them.
Maybe it's better when actually performed--let's hope so.

[Meredith Jao · Rating 5 out of 5]

Female Tennessee Williams- vibes

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starts with a bang and never looks back. A really great crime play, even if that’s not necessarily my bag, with characters that make themselves immediately known to you, familiar and not all at the same time.