Answering Spirits
A play by Stephen Volk
(Antidote Theatre: UK tour, including Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 1994)
(Antidote Theatre: UK tour, including Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 1994)
In 1848, two barefoot children from a backwater farm in New York State started a cult that became a religion. It swept American by storm -- and swept them with it. In public the three Fox sisters became spiritual and moral leaders. In private, their personal lives were tainted and finally shattered by jealousy, lies, guilt and tragedy.
Until, forty years after it all began, when one of them, racked with guilt or addled by alcohol, but empowered by the weight of her conscience, stood up against its millions of followers and proclaimed it all a monumental fraud.
You are invited to attend the confession of Margaret Fox Kane. in the presence of her two sisters, the powerful and manipulative Leah, and the child-like innocent Kate -- the three "Mothers of Spiritualism".
What do you believe? -- Was Spiritualism a sign from God?
...Or the greatest lie ever told?
Until, forty years after it all began, when one of them, racked with guilt or addled by alcohol, but empowered by the weight of her conscience, stood up against its millions of followers and proclaimed it all a monumental fraud.
You are invited to attend the confession of Margaret Fox Kane. in the presence of her two sisters, the powerful and manipulative Leah, and the child-like innocent Kate -- the three "Mothers of Spiritualism".
What do you believe? -- Was Spiritualism a sign from God?
...Or the greatest lie ever told?
Directed by Caroline Maynard
Designed by Jennie Norman
An Antidote Theatre Production
UK premiere: 31 July 1993, Glynne Wickham Studio, Bristol; 4-7 August 1993, Rondo Theatre, Bath; UK tour incl Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 1994
The cast:
Maggie........................Isabel Brook
Kate.............................Siân Owen Jones
Leah............................Rebecca Simmons
Elisha.........................James Traherne
Designed by Jennie Norman
An Antidote Theatre Production
UK premiere: 31 July 1993, Glynne Wickham Studio, Bristol; 4-7 August 1993, Rondo Theatre, Bath; UK tour incl Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 1994
The cast:
Maggie........................Isabel Brook
Kate.............................Siân Owen Jones
Leah............................Rebecca Simmons
Elisha.........................James Traherne
"A tight script... A fast, faultless narrative" Alex Linklater, The Scotsman
"This impressive play, though often searing, is profound and compelling" The Stage
"The show has a power which belongs on another plane... Go and see it" Bath Chronicle
"A gripping experience" Wiltshire Times
"This impressive play, though often searing, is profound and compelling" The Stage
"The show has a power which belongs on another plane... Go and see it" Bath Chronicle
"A gripping experience" Wiltshire Times
Read more about Spiritualism's Unlikely Founders at History.net
Read The Haunted Museum: The Fox Sisters - The Rise and Fall of Spiritualism's Founders on American Hauntings
See a Photographer's 16 Year Search to Capture a Seance on Film
Read The Haunted Museum: The Fox Sisters - The Rise and Fall of Spiritualism's Founders on American Hauntings
See a Photographer's 16 Year Search to Capture a Seance on Film
The story of the Fox sisters features in issue #2 of Hocus Pocus, creative consultant Richard Wiseman, story by Rik Worth, art by Jordan Collver, colours by Owen Watts:
