Afterimage

by Robert Chafe (Adapter), Michael Crummey

Based on the short story by Michael Crummey, Afterimage explores the connections built within both family and community.

Genres: Plays

96 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2010

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Crummey is a writer I have long admired, and this stage adaptation of one of his short stories doesn't disappoint. I love plays which stretch the boundaries of what is possible, and this scores hugely on that account (as well as on the more prosaic ones of drama and pathos)- as it requires a copper set with costumes bearing DC current, whereby many flashing lighting effects are created, including an opening on-stage accidental electrocution. Since few companies have the wherewithal to do such, I suspect the original production by Artistic Fraud (great name for a stage company) has been the only one. You can see a few minutes of their brilliance here, on a YouTube video commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr2tb...

[Lucile Barker · Rating 5 out of 5]

189. Afterimage by Robert Chafe
This play is based on a short story by Michael Crummey, a Newfoundland writer, and I really want to see it now. The play is filled with flames, electricity, flashes, lightening and the effects that these have on perception after they are gone. Lise, who works in the local hospital, is seen as a witch in her community and can see the future. When she meets Winston, a hydro linesman who has been electrocuted, she finds that he, too, has the gift, which he did not have before the accident. They marry and have three children, but the middle one, Leo, is not like Jerome and Theresa, who can see parts of the future. And how could he have been born between the other two? I would love to see this play, which was staged on a copper surface and had some dangerous-sounding effects. Reading the play a second time shows you all the clues you might have missed.

[b · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for school. Really well adapted. Cassandra-ic kind of tragedy, but very well visualized, the way good theater ought to be. Wish I could have caught this one live.

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adapting Michael Crummey's short story, Robert Chaife creates a Canadian Gothic tale about outsiders and the cost they pay for inclusion. Lise comes from a long line of left-handed, red-headed psychics. Her youngest and oldest child have inherited her gift, but in between is Leo, who wears a red cap to fit in and lacks the family's gift of second sight. His efforts to find a place in the world and the mystery behind his place in the family provide a moving look at a world where finding the "we of me" can be a painful process.

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wowzas. I read this in the midst of studying for exams, and it provided the perfect escape from the end-of-year academic stress. It's also high up there on my list of plays to direct in the near future. I would have loved to have seen the original production, staged by the brilliant Jillian Keiley with her master stage wizardry, but even reading the words on the page created images and feelings that sparked immense intrigue. This is beautiful.

[John Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, intense, somewhat abstract at times, rhthmic, a master word painting. Did I say intense? It is b'y. Yes, she's awful bad.

I highly recommend this quick, two hour max read.