The Young Diana (adapted from Marie Corelli by Gillian Hiscott)
Gillian Hiscott
Genre: Drama
Cast size: 4
Duration: Two Act
Gillian Hiscott | Drama | Full-length | 1m, 3f
Short synopsis
- Synopsis
- Characters
A unique costume drama adaptation of a novel written at the end of the 19th century, but with a modern twist. The play is a comparison of the journey of women since the time of the original novel, when the suffragette movement began to gather momentum with a present-day obsession with body image.
In the opening scene we meet plain Diana, a lady who has been jilted by her lover talking over the matter with her friend Sophy, a suffragette. Diana explains how she has staged her own death in order to start a new life. She then proceeds to leave England to the home of a Dr Dimitrius, an experimentalist who promises to turn her into an immortal beautiful goddess.
We meet also, his lover Rose, who poses as lady's maid to Diana. Her vicious inner jealousy give the play a dramatic tension. Dr Dimitrius creates his goddess, falls in love with her and attempts to follow her when she leaves to break into her own identity. It ends with her own destruction, that of a car crash.
Reference is made to the late Princess of Wales, as an example of a woman whose created body image was instrumental to her final destruction. Although certain references within the play may only be known to those with knowledge of the life of Diana, Princess of Wales the dramatic effect of the reference will still make it a captivating piece of theatre to those without that knowledge.
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