Dead Victorian Child: a comedy

by Briandaniel Oglesby

A pair of bickering spiritualist sisters, a patent medicine peddler selling literal snake oil, a fairy whisperer, and a time traveling inventor with his mechanical monkey all come knocking on the Briar family’s door when a child appears to have died after reading books that were too much for his delicate Victorian sensibilities. They claim they can contact the dead. Their grifts (and pasts) are exposed when the...

A pair of bickering spiritualist sisters, a patent medicine peddler selling literal snake oil, a fairy whisperer, and a time traveling inventor with his mechanical monkey all come knocking on the Briar family’s door when a child appears to have died after reading books that were too much for his delicate Victorian sensibilities. They claim they can contact the dead. Their grifts (and pasts) are exposed when the child “returns” to life.
The child has a story to tell - and Barnum and Bailey are eager to profit from it.
This play starts as a farce, though the satire transforms into a different kind of imaginative comedy complete with grave robbing, LGBTQ storylines, a seance that brings back an irritated mother, a time-traveling jaunt through the 20th Century, a fight with a dinosaur, assassins, a League of Non-binary Street Urchins, and more as the child invents the stories of the grifters. When he’s exposed as a fraud and Barnum and Bailey decide to literally bury him, he is forced to confront his own truths - and invent more hopeful endings for others.

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Dead Victorian Child: a comedy

The Dead Victorian Child (DVC) A storyteller who had previously been a soot-covered factory laborer. Wants to be liked. Charming. 10-14-ish. [Any Gender]
Mr. Reginald Briar The ‘father’ in the Briar household. A businessman. Owns a factory or two in this Gilded Age. Believes in what passes for science.
Mrs. Matilda Briar The ‘mother.’ Obsessed with dolls, but also a reader. Came from money.
Katarina Fox A medium. She specializes in ‘reading’ people.
Margaretta Fox Another medium. The more theatrical sister.
Leah Fox The older Fox sister, who seems like the youngest. She believes in fairies.
William Sasquatch, Inventor A self-proclaimed brilliant inventor.
Dr. Cornelius Pepper A patent medicine man.
The Maid (Lady Tuffenberry) She claims to not remember who she was. Amnesia.
Johnny Scoops, the Reporter An investigative gossip columnist. [Any Gender]
Jem-Jem A robotic monkey. Or a classical actor? [Any Gender]
The Undertaker An undertaker
The Photographer - W.H. Mumler A high strung photographer who claims to capture spirits in his pictures.
P.T. Barnum A showman.
Bailey P.T.’s sidekick.
Gene/Eugenia Nurple Desperate to find out what happened to their sibling. [Any Gender]
Clarabell The neighbor. The DVC
Mr/Mrs. Velveteen Desperate to find out what happened to their pet dog. [Any Gender]
The Narrator Established later that the Narrator is a dead Victorian child.
The Rabble They really, really want to see the child. At least one is really broke.
Chorus Chorus helps the Dead Victorian Child tell the story; doubles with historical figures.
Apple Seller A member of the Society of Nonbinary Street Urchins. Doubles with Clarabell
Mother Fox The spirit of the sisters’ mother.
Mrs Harold Johnson A widow, whose husband died in a ferryboat explosions
Aidan the Performer A talkative contortionist or juggler. The DVC’s first friend.
Undertakers Masked figures. Cabal of Undertakers, Grave Robbers, Doctors, Assassins
Dinosaurs Rar.