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Clara Thomas Bailey by Caridad Svich

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Recommendations

  • Ryan Rappaport:
    23 Feb. 2023
    “ This play is like a memory of a tapestry. C. T. and B. (the three actors) weave in and out of telling a rich first-and-second-person narrative while inhabiting fleeting memories of other characters. The scenes are definite and, like a memory, momentary. Stress, tension, and joy all intermingle and weave together to craft a compelling and approachable narrative.

    How Svich utilizes the second-person voice is one of the many highlights of this play. This voice draws the audience into Clara Thomas Bailey's mind and history and settles us into every nuanced feeling they experience. I absolutely enjoyed this play. ”
  • Samantha Marchant:
    2 Dec. 2022
    “ “I mean everything I say. No subtext.” What a wonderful line from a script filled with wonderful words. Reading it, I was completely swept up in the tone and cadence. The scenes in the waiting room… so good! ”
  • Nick Malakhow:
    26 Sep. 2021
    “ Stunning and super compelling and inventive meditation on the lingering hum of anxiety and existential dread of being alive...though it manages to be that in a propulsive and theatrical and exciting fashion! This really does capture a mood or atmosphere of the current moment, though the themes of contemporary urban loneliness and alienation, cycles and relationships, and physical and mental self care feel eternally relevant. I also thought this piece was very aesthetically coherent and distinct, while leaving incredibly generous room for a production team to leave its mark on it. ”
  • Aly Kantor:
    6 Jul. 2021
    “ We all talk to the voices in our heads. In Clara Thomas Bailey, Svich manifests them into three distinct characters, providing the complete picture of an individual that could be any of us. It is a melancholy portrait of what it is to always be waiting for the next bit of not-yet-catastrophic bad news... yet somehow made me feel less alone. The underlying anxiety in this afternoon with Clara (and Thomas and Bailey) is relatable and urgent. This is a deep piece that will be a satisfying challenge for a creative and empathetic director. I hope to see it staged! ”
  • David Hansen:
    4 Apr. 2021
    “ A magical monologue in three parts (it’s not really a monologue, but it’s like a monologue) told in second person singular, like a conversation in the mind. A tale of urban anxiety and loss, fearing pain, death and isolation, and the human aspiration for success, for contact, for calm and clarity, for creation, full of beauty and wonder and doubt. It's lovely and I highly recommend a read! ”
  • Toby Malone:
    30 Dec. 2020
    “ This is a breathtaking, deeply layered play that requires its readers and hearers to immerse themselves patiently and let the words wash over. An hour or a day or a lifetime with these three characters, separate but the same, distant but so close. This is a meditation on a life in a style that feels both like a throwback to an experimental time but also feels incredibly urgent and present and vital for today. This is something that will only deepen and expand in production and is destined to be one of the must-reads of this decade. Read it. ”
  • Rachael Murray:
    29 Dec. 2020
    “ Wow. This got me in my feelings so deeply. The writing does an incredible job of capturing the mind's eye at work, and the anxiety induced by modern life and living. I can't wait to re-read, and then see it in full production some day. ”