this collections contains three full-length plays:
THE LAST GOOD MOMENT OF LILY BAKER
THE WILD GOOSE CIRCUS
THE SECOND DEATH OF PRISCILLA
THE LAST GOOD MOMENT OF LILY BAKER:
“…there is a richness of
characterization and scope here that tease, please and surprise, and with a
mythic stretch that is, at its best, reminiscent of Edward Albee’s WHO’S AFRAID
OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?...”
Nancy Churnin, Los Angeles Times
“I first encountered the work of
playwright Russell Davis…at the world premier of his FURTHER ADVENTURES OF
SALLY…. I found myself hanging on every word and admiring Davis’ singular
communicatory skills more with each passing moment.
…I was no less entranced with Lily than I was with Sally….
…amusing us more than a little en route with a verbal wizardry that warms and
delights. Davis at the same time painlessly imparts a deeper universal meaning
having to do with personal signposts lost and regained….”
Nels Nelson, Daily News
THE WILD GOOSE CIRCUS:
“in Russell Davis’ THE WILD GOOSE
CIRCUS, these crafty artisans hit fertile pay dirt.
…Within this broken calliope frame, Davis piles a fantastic compost of meaty
metaphor and biblical allegory, bears on unicycles and sad French clowns. The
rich, layered text gives way to inspired surreal absurdity that isn’t merely a
self-conscious jab at surrealism and absurdism….
From trapeze to pirate ship to a monster walrus head, the staging is visual
poetry, making THE WILD GOOSE CIRCUS all the more strange and beautiful and
rare.”
Tom Orr, The Seattle Times
THE SECOND DEATH OF PRISCILLA:
“THE SECOND DEATH OF PRISCILLA, a
look inside the mind of a woman who’s losing it, is a play of shifting reality
and poetic beauty….
Russell Davis’ play, [is] a childhood story twisted into a metaphorical fairy
tale for grownups….
Priscilla is a woman afraid to leave her room. Her mind is besieged by an
obsessive internal voice, depicted as a wolf disguised as a man…. He lurks
outside Priscilla’s window. He stalks, beguiles and snarls in his effort to keep
Priscilla under his control.
…I found myself lost in Priscilla’s delusion and moved by her
transformation….”
Judith Egerton, The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
PLAYS BY RUSSELL DAVIS, VOLUME TWO
I S B N 0-88145-247-5: $16.95