Theater: 'The Salonniéres' Premieres In Fall This Year (Greater Boston Stage Company)

Poster by J. Weston Lewis

Doesn't this poster look amazing?! Fairy tale writers, storytellers and revolutionaries make for a great lens to view this period in history and we're guessing d'Aulnoy will feature... (please let it be so!) What a wonderful concept for a play. (We can't believe this is the first we've heard of this play from 2015!) The conversations and storytelling in a fairy tale salon, layered with all the social and political intrigue and chaos of the time, would be fascinating to watch. We wish we were local to check this out. 

Here's the info:

THE SALONNIÉRES

October 25-November 11, 2018

World Premiere

by Liz Duffy Adams

Directed by Weylin Symes

In pre-Revolutionary Paris, a young girl is promised in marriage to a Duke to pay off her father’s debts. She flees to the literary salon of her late mother’s friends: aristocratic women who conceal radical politics within reinvented folk tales. Which of them is her fairy godmother, and which the cruel stepmother? Is the Duke a Prince Charming or a Beast? And is the maid just a maid, or the hero of a story none of them knows they are in?

Here's a different description from New Plays Exchange (where the GBSC found the play!):

The Salonniéres  by Liz Duffy Adams

Cast: 5

Genre: comedy, drama, period, political

Keyword: revolution, feminism, Fairy Tales, France, strong female leads 

In pre-Revolutionary Paris, Madeleine, a girl fresh from the convent, is promised in marriage to an older nobleman to pay off her father’s debts. She flees to the literary salon of her late mother’s friends, aristocratic women who conceal radical politics within reinvented folk tales. When her promised husband shows up too, the women must use their wits to save Madeleine. But in the end, the maid Françoise is revealed as the real hero of a story they didn’t realize they were in.

And the recommendations from New Plays Exchange (NPX):

• Jordan Elizabeth Henry:
  29 Apr. 2018“ This wonderful period piece blew me away with its accessibility, its honoring of story, its depth of character, its crazy-high stakes, and its charm. The ending made me want to stand up and shout; I had fiery grateful feminist tears in my eyes. THE SALONNIERES is full of humor, horror, and badass women. I'm obsessed. ” 

  Kristen Palmer:
  22 Oct. 2017“ This play is so sharp. I got to hear it read recently and it soared off the page and into my head. It's a wonderful play for the moment - and puts the male canon firmly into the hands of the too long over looked women of its era - with the revolution rumbling just outside the door. ”

This is one play we'll be watching for reviews of. (And if you're in Boston and want to go in exchange for a review, please let us know. We might be able to help you get there...) 

Check out the 2018/2019 season line-up at The Greater Boston Stage Company HERE.