GILDED CAGES - part IV of MRS. HAWKING by Phoebe Roberts and Bernie Gabin - steampunk adventure show

Mrs. Hawking part IV
GILDED CAGES
by Phoebe Roberts & Bernie Gabin

The story so far:

Mary Stone’s life changed forever four years ago in London, 1880, when she accepted a job as a housemaid to reclusive London widow Victoria Hawking. Hired by the lady’s well-meaning nephew Nathaniel Hawking, at first they seem shut out at every turn by this brooding and mysterious woman. But when they discover her true identity as a superhero, righting the wrongs done to the least powerful people in the city, they are eager to not only help her in her important work, but also to be the close presences in her life that she has been missing. With Mary and Nathaniel’s steadfast insistence to be there when she needs it, they have formed a true superhero team— and maybe even a family.

This episode:

London, 1884— For twenty-five years, our hero has battled injustice as the Lady’s Champion of London. But it has been a difficult path that led her to her life’s work as a superhero. As Mrs. Hawking recalls her youth in English-colonized Singapore, the truth behind her discovery of her calling will finally be revealed. And as she takes on a case like none she’s ever tackled, against an enemy beyond any she’s ever faced, she will find the struggles and mistakes of her past have come back to haunt her.

Content notes: impacts of colonialism, brief parental violence, mentions of stillbirth

Requires no knowledge of the previous show.

From Breaking Light Productions (​@breakinglightproductions)
at the Manchester Community Theatre at NEMS

Scenes

00:00 - Main titles
00:36 - I.i - Never off the clock
03:22 - I.ii - Mrs. Chaudhary
09:41 - I.iii - Singapore, 1859
19:06 - I.iv - The Colonel’s old study
25:00 - I.v - Staking out the pantry
33:15 - I.vi - The knighthood
39:53 - I.vii - Closer than I can bear
43:10 - I.viii - Making room
46:25 - II.i - The plan
55:58 - II.ii - The demons of other people’s misery
01:03:20 - II.iii - The warehouse raid
01:05:11 - II.iv - The hand you’ve been dealt
01:10:55 - II.v - Consulting the blackmailer
01:13:57 - II.vi - Kingmaker
01:24:10 - II.vii - Visiting the Colonel
01:27:52 - Curtain call

CAST

London, 1884

Cari Keebaugh as Mrs. Hawking
Coryn May as Mary Stone
Christian Krenek as Nathaniel Hawking
Jackie Freyman as Clara Hawking
Matthew Kamm as Arthur Swann
Naomi Ibasitas as Mrs. Chaudhary
LilyDean Della Quercia as Lord Brockton
Arielle Kaplan as Mrs. Frost
Andrew Prentice as Roland Davies
Jason Tilton as Ensemble

Singapore, 1859

Cari Keebaugh as Victoria Stanton
Naomi Ibasitas as Malaika binti Shah
Arielle Kaplan as Elizabeth Danvers
Christian Krenek as Reginald Hawking
Andrew Winson as Lt. Governor Stanton
Andrew Prentice as Ensemble
Jason Tilton as Ensemble

CREW

Director, Production Design - Phoebe Roberts
Editor, Technical Director - Bernie Gabin
Stage Manager - Pieter Wallace
Set Design - Carolyn Daitch
Lighting Design - David Silber
Costume Design - Jenn Benfield
Sound Technicians - Jason Kuehl, Jacob LaRocca
Wardrobe Technician - Kate Potter
Stage Crew - Michael McAfee, Keisha Warriner
Fight Choreography - Dan Prior
Logo Design - Judith Lingford

Director's Note

As fascinating as the Victorian period can be, it cannot be ignored that it was also a time of rampant colonialism, the effects of which still linger to the detriment of many cultures around the world today. The longer one plays around in this setting— and we’ve been doing it for four years and four installments now —the more inevitable it becomes that, as much as we love gas lamp capers, they tend to center on the people who were privileged by and complicit in this colonial devastation. We’ve always worked to turn the conventions of our genres— superhero, detective, and steampunk —on their heads, so to refuse to deal with this would be an affront to the emotional honesty we always strive for.

In part 4: Gilded Cages, we took depicting this situation very seriously. We have done our best research, and consulted a number of more knowledgeable parties, to whom we owe an enormous debt for their time, thoughts, and help. We’ve done the very best we could, given the nature of the challenge and our personal limitations as artists, to explore this responsibility and refuse to allow our characters to be exonerated from it. Even— especially —the ones we love best.

So here is our attempt to tell a meaningful tale that understands that essence of drama is accepting consequences, and to not shy away from monstrous realities just for the sake of fun. It is our hope to not only show respect and understanding to the enormity of this part of human history and experience, but that its informing our story will grant greater depth and power to our art.

Special Thanks

Eric Cheung
Michael Lin
Mara Elissa Palma
Kara Kaufman
Claire Brosius
Alan D. Kaplan

Follow:

Web: www.mrshawking.com
FB: www.facebook.com/ladyschampionoflondon
Instag: @mrshawkingweb
TV Tropes: Mrs Hawking (Theatre)

This has been a Breaking Light Production