How I love the theatre! So far this year, I’ve seen some amazing productions – Sir Derek Jacobi’s impressive King Lear, Rory Kinnear’s magnificent Hamlet, director Danny Boyle’s truly remarkable Frankenstein, Tracy Bennett’s deservedly-acclaimed performance as Judy Garland in End of the Rainbow.
Yet how I wish I lived in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, for the theatrical productions there sound far, far more interesting. Here’s an account from the Portsmouth Patch of April 22:
The beautiful weather of last weekend made an historical walking tour of Tiverton Four Corners all the more charming. The birds were singing, the air was crisp and the historical tales came to life with the help from actors of the Portsmouth Community Theater…
Around the corner, [Cindy] Killavey transformed herself into another townsperson from the past. She told a story from 1810 about a young woman who was sentenced to a public flogging for being unable to pay a town fine. As she was being tied to the whipping post, the governor at that time, Governor Wilbur, drove past the scene.
The crowd flocked to him and begged that he stop the public punishment. He calmly responded that if there was no whipping post, there couldn’t possibly be a flogging. The crowd revolted and tore the post from the ground.
I’m picturing a slightly different outcome in a future production, whereby the actor playing the Governor ends up unfortunately delayed. The other members of the company would have no choice, in the interests of dramatic integrity, other than to continue with the flogging, as the crowd cheered them on. Not, I hasten to add, Ms Killavey, if you’re reading, that I would wish you any harm: I think we might need to send a volunteer to act as your understudy.
I’m guessing if Ms. Killavey is reading this, she’s probably cool with a li’l improv-whipping.
… LOL unless she has a Google Search set up on her own name, and finds her way here, and ends up a bit freaked out by it. In which case, we apologise!
If I was mayor of a town, anywhere in the world, I would erect a whipping post. It would be my pride and joy, to see that it is used 24 hours a day. Yes, any erring female, would find her dress raised up, her knickers down, and a painful whip applied to her naked rear end.
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