The Canterville Ghost

A full-length comedy play where a ghost tries, and fails, to scare off an American aristocratic family that moves into his mansion. The play, following the perspectives of both the ghost and the family, uses dry wit and slapstick comedy to keep the audience laughing at the misfortune of its loveable characters. It has a focus on heightened performances to make the characters, along with extravagant costumes, more flamboyant and emphasize the farcical nature of the play.

 

To not break the audience's immersion, it is all set in a single room that characters come and go through. The play also contains multiple 4th wall breaks as the audience are, from the perspective of the room and the characters within it, a painting that is watching them. Characters regularly discuss the painting, leading to comical moments where they may insult or complement members of the audience; the ghost, aware of the audience, talks directly to the painting.

 

I wrote this play, based on the Oscar Wilde novella of the same name, so that I could create a comedic play from the ground up and learn about everything that goes into making live theatre. I learnt a great deal through this project, from writing convincing dialogue that can be absurd whilst staying true to its characters and the overarching narrative, to how to manage and solo direct a large cast to build a piece of theatre together. I developed new techniques for myself that worked really well for communicating ideas to other creatives, as well as how to extract good ideas from a group of people.