←Recommendations of Marley's Ghost

I love afterlife stories and this two hander is exceptional. Be careful what you wish for, you may get it.

Be careful what you wish for. John so deeply misses his lost love Herb that we would do just about anything to bring him back. But when the opportunity arises, things do not turn out as planned; and John learns that just because you want something more than anything, that doesn’t make it right. There is a certain melancholy beauty to this short macabre two-hander that begs to be experienced. Love may conquer death, but should it?

12/20/25 - A lovely invocation of of the Dickens character in a sweet, melancholy story of love and loss. I'm so glad to have read this - especially near the holidays.

Wow - this short provides the rare combination of being both creepy and touching! Mixing grief, loneliness, and magic can yield predictably tragic results, but in William's fine hands it results in an unexpected encounter providing short-lived, sweet remembrance. So well done.

Oh, what a gift this would be for an actor, with so much said without words before the dialogue even begins! And to me, the only trope I love more than "came back wrong" is "came back right" - that is done to absolutely gorgeous effect here, with an efficient play featuring a relationship that feels impossibly lived in and rich. Beautiful and melancholy in turns, I've never seen a play on The Monkey's Paw that was this gentle and kind. Lovely!

Oh my goodness, this is so bittersweet! This play was not anything I expected it to be. How delightful to be surprised in such a wonderful way. This sweet, thought-provoking, easy-to-stage two hander deserves many productions.

Heartbreaking. Beautifully rendered. A tale of loss and deep longing. This play touches upon wayward wishes, grief, and the painful truth of how what we want is so rarely what we need.

So tender. So still. The one animated moment of fun physical humor does nothing to detract from this short play's sense of resignation, wisdom and calm. Indeed it heightens it. There's nothing. Nothing to fear. Nothing which words in the here and now can relate. Lovely.

One can almost hear "The Twilight Zone" theme and the voice of Rod Serling introducing the tale. In a twist on "The Monkey's Paw," with the help of three wishes a man brings his late lover back to life. But he may not have thought this wish all the way through. Proof that a play can be fun and sad at the same time.

As others have commented, the play captures the theme of "be careful what you wish for" splendidly. But it's heartbreaking. There's a sadness at the core of this play that's so beautiful, so relatable, it truly makes one ache. But the characters that populate Williams's "Marley's Ghost" are not displaying their pain. They're remembering the laughter, the joy, and the hope for another encounter one day. This is a terrific play!