{"product_id":"9780573628436","title":"The Anastasia Trials in the Court of Women by Carolyn Gage","description":"A play with intense audience participation! Engrossing  controversial courtroom drama  where the audience must serve as judge and jury  deciding motions and verdict  in a case against the five women who betrayed the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov  the last surviving daughter of the Tsar of Russia. Complex ethical questions on a set of folding chairs.   The Anastasia Trialsis a farcical  but profoundly engaging excursion into the hidden world of ethics for women who are both survivors and perpetrators of abuse toward women. The format is a play-within-a-play  where a radical feminist theatre company comes together in order to perform a courtroom drama. The play is shaped by the audience decisions to overrule or sustain the attorneys' motions  and every night's audience sees a different play.   In presenting the play  the Emma Goldman Theatre Brigade has instituted a new system to insure equal opportunity for the actors: a lottery. As the women assemble to draw their roles from the hat for the evening's performance  sisterhood is put to the test. The performance itself is a conspiracy trial against five women accused of denying a woman her identity. The plaintiff is none other than Anastasia Romanov  sole survivor of the massacre of the Russian imperial family in 1918.   \"Elegantly conceived...A feministNoises Off.\" -Washington City Press\"Powerful.\" -San Diego Lesbian Press\"Farce  social history  debate play  agitprop  audience participation melodrama  satire [that] makes the head reel!\" -San Diego Union Tribune\"Wild... It's lively and moves quickly... Very funny yet poignant.\" -Washington Blade\"Carolyn Gage's raucous  multilayered script explores issues of empathy  loyalty  and betrayal among women...\" --The Washington Post.   \"Verdict: An unexpected delight... \" --Miami Herald  FL.   \"... farcical humor  imaginative plot twists  and just pure theatrical fun...\" --South Florida Sun-Sentinel  Ft. Lauderdale.   \"... fascinating and complex play...\"--Fresno Beehive.com\"I am constantly amazed at Carolyn's ability to make complex social issues not only accessible but also irresistibly fascinating... the play... [The Anastasia Trials ] touched us  made us laugh and gripped us in a white-knuckle intensity usually found only in Hitchcock films.\" --R.J. McComish  Literary Manager of the Portland Stage Company  Portland  Maine.   \"... fabulously interesting  brilliantly thought-provoking and exquisitely funny... masterpiece of feminist theater...\" --off our backs  Washington  DC.   \"Each performance could potentially have a different result and many students saw every performance just so they could see how the show ended.\"--At Oldfields  Glencoe  MD.\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback \/ softback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56311814324597,"sku":"9780573628436","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780573628436.jpg?v=1762819479","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/9780573628436","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}