←Recommendations of Dark Twist

Secrets, when held for so long, become like faded wallpaper in an old house. Once fresh and vibrant, they are now foundational- a defining quality that it impossible to picture not being there. “Dark Twist” unravels itself like the peeling of a brightly decorated Easter egg, and forces us to examine those fundamental events that shape who we are. Well crafters and exploratory, Dark Twist is a character drama that will stick with you.

This effectively atmospheric piece convincingly evokes the world of the traditional New England prep school: a fascinating subculture most of us have never experienced. Complex characters, literate dialogue, and concealed motivations keep the audience engaged and guessing. The view of the past is bleak, but the ending offers some welcome hope for the future.

Dark Twist gave me access to a world I know little about, and kept me engaged from start to finish. The layers of underbelly of the boarding school experience are slowly and insightfully revealed. Beautifully defined characters who can turn on a dime played with my allegiance and left me with the question: Do we ever truly rid ourselves of the demons of our past? This brilliant drama needs to be staged.

DARK TWIST explores how the trauma of one’s past stays with a person with such unrelenting clarity and focus, and it brilliantly dramatizes the sharp pull that causes some adults to return to the scene of that trauma years later to confront the demons head on. Richard and Jeff deal with their own evolving identities and complicated relationship that was forged in boarding school. The play is almost an exorcism of sorts, with surprising discoveries about ritualistic cruelties and misunderstandings. Wonderfully structured with richly compelling dialogue and action.

This was an exceptional show. I truly enjoyed these smart characters dealing with their pasts in healthy and unhealthy ways. I found myself switching sides with each as they told their stories and excited to see what each next "dark twist" would be. Their baggageand drama is real and relatable and the lengths they go to deal with them hits home. I left hoping Jeff and Richard had closure, as well as the opportunity for a new chapter.

A darkly intriguing play that pulls you in with vivid characters and dialogue, and keeps you reading as more information and history is revealed. Williams loves giving his characters rich backgrounds and that’s what brings them to such stunning life. Visual, physical, and sometimes difficult, this is an excellent example of what he does best.

I wanted to read this one before it was published, and I'm so glad I got my act together and did. A play about how what happens to us when we're young shapes our lives - both for good and for bad - Dark Twist will take you back to how it felt to be a teenager, trying to figure out who you are, what the world is, and how best to survive within it. It's a wonderful drama full of twists, surprises, and haunting memories. Philip Middleton Williams knocked it out of the park again.

At an all-boys boarding school, the weak, the different, the perceived gay became targets. Jeff survived by finding a protector, staying stoned, and pretending not to be who he was. Richard broke under the bullying and lives with PTSD-like nightmares. Now both have returned to the school to teach. But why? To exorcise their demons or to embrace them? They seek to answer that question in this gripping and engaging drama of memory and survival. Audiences need to see this play.

DARK TWIST is absolutely riveting. What struck me the most are the dynamic shifts--within seconds--that each character makes. When people are wounded they shift quickly between anger, defensiveness, vulnerability, and terror. This play beautifully captures that shifting. Also, the theme of unfinished childhood business that haunts adults until they do something about it....and what, exactly, can they do? The past is over, right? DARK TWIST powerfully shows how the past is not, in fact, over, but people still go forward. Brilliant!

From the opening stage directions of DARK TWIST, Philip Middleton Williams transports you to a prep school world that feels incredibly real and textured. The memories that the characters both share and suppress are woven into the setting itself, with dilapidated desks and classrooms becoming metaphors for all the trauma within. Navigating through the lives of these dynamic characters is fascinating and the revelations about bullying and abuse are explored with such great perspective through different lenses of sexuality and status.