Imagine you are living in an intolerable relationship and you seek divorce action but before you can follow through–you have a stroke, return to clarity unable to speak or walk? And then you find out that the person who has been granted your care is your soon-to-be-ex-husband?
It sounds like a plot by an English mystery writer–throw in the craggy rocks on the beach and the waves washing against the side of the old castle they live in and you have a suspense thriller. Problem is, this is not fiction. Elizabeth Hudson’s new play A Stroke of Malice is based on a true story.
Elizabeth sent Art Matters Society the script last winter and we produced and directed the one act play at the Festival of Artistic and Creative Expression June 9, 2010. Again, actor Gai Brown-Evans starred in one of Elizabeth’s plays–she was in Unwanted Dead or Alive in 2009.
A Stroke of Malice is an interesting story that becomes more frightening as the play goes on. I admit, I didn’t like the character . . . didn’t really even have sympathy for her but that is what makes the play so good. The realization for me was, that we don’t have to like all the victims, just understand them.
This is a very insightful and meaningful play by the pen of an accomplished and serious playwright Elizabeth Hudson. I always find Elizabeth’s works engaging, honest and hard-hitting. I first read her book Snowbodies, directed and produced Unwanted Dead or Alive and although my hand in the direction of her new work was not as intense, I enjoyed the outcome of A Stroke of Malice.
Elizabeth has promised us a new work for June 25, 2011 A Series of One Night Stands and we look forward to what her creative mind will bring forth this time.