←Recommendations of Who Put Bella In The Wych Elm?

From the moment the play starts until it’s unexpected ending I couldn’t put this play down. It will literally haunt me! Katherine Vondy’s ability to take a real story, a real unsolved mystery, and give it such depth is fascinating. Throughout this play Katherine’s dialogue and relationships accentuate the expectations of women in the 1940s. Absolutely incredible. 1 of my favorite NPX shows.

Perfection!! A dramatization of a real-life unsolved mystery, the murdered woman guides the audience through all the theories as to who she was and why she died, broken up by scenes with a forensic pathologist and his assistant examining her remains (my favorite bits - the dialogue is fantastic). Smart, funny, and engaging, this is a terrific play about what is expected of women and how women must fight to be seen.

This script takes the audience down many exciting paths as it explores the mystery of who put Bella in the wych elm and the idea of erasure. All of the sections with the egg are masterfully crafted. Would love to see on stage.

Powerful, fantastical, and brilliantly theatrical, this play is just everything. Vondy's epic is subtle and devilishly clever, beginning in the realm of historical fiction that you think will just scratch your true crime itch, but it becomes so much more vast and intimate, filling our heads with wonderous questions and commentary on sexism, identity, legacy, and everything in between. The wordplay and stage imagery in here is endlessly delightful, and I cannot recommend it enough. Read it. Produce it. Now. Forever.

In writing about an unsolved mystery from 1943, Katherine Vondy actually managed to create a play that explores what it means to be a modern independent woman. The playwright has a knack for clever dialogue that makes every page a delight to read. Highly recommended!