Stella

by Neil Bartlett

“What’s the odds so long as you’re happy?” ― Ernest Boulton, 1869

Alone on the darkened stage of an old music hall, a man reflects on an extraordinary life as he awaits a very ordinary death.

Inspired by the scandalous true story of Ernest Boulton – the infamous Victorian cross-dresser – this original production from one of Britain’s most individual theatre-makers is a highly personal meditation on the fine art of living dangerously.

Genres: Plays

60 pages, Paperback

Published April 11, 2017

About the author

Born in 1958, Neil Bartlett has spent twenty-five years at the cutting edge of British gay culture. His ground-breaking study of Oscar Wilde, Who Was That Man? paved the way for a queer re-imagining of history ; his first novel, Ready To Catch Him Should He Fall, was voted Capital Gay Book of The Year; his second, Mr Clive and Mr Page, was nominated for the Whitbread Prize. Both have since been translated into five European languages. Listing him as one of the country's fifty most significant gay cultural figures, the Independent said "Brilliant,beautiful, mischievous; few men can match Bartlett for the breadth of his exploration of gay sensibility".

He also works as a director, and in 2000 was awarded an OBE for services to the theatre. He founded his first theatre company in 1982 and is now an "independent theatre-maker and freelance director", continuing to write novels and work as an activist for gay rights.

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Reviews

[Ember Sappington · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first play I've ever read that made me cry. It's beautiful and sad and perfect. It's sweet and tragic at the same time. I love the structure of the piece too. I only wish it was longer! Not because it didn't feel like the length was right, but because it was so good I wanted more!

[Martín Erburu]

Beautiful.

[jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

"it makes no sense to be frightened you might not die as yourself. why? because you can't really die as anybody else."