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                                           THE PLAY

The Belle of Amherst: Double Vision

                   

‘Why did they shut me out of heaven?  Did I sing too loud?’ Emily Dickinson

'The audience was completely enthralled....'  La Jolla Museum for Contemporary Art        

        Luce’s play, renowned for its run on Broadway with Julie Harris, is presented by Belleherst   as a witty, entertaining and profoundly moving drama of the gifted and inspired life of Emily Dickinson. She is America’s greatest lyric poet, whose personality remains as enigmatic as her poetry remains infamous. But, Belleherst also presents a perspective of Luce’s play as ‘poetry in motion’ on alternate performance dates. Agreeing with Emily, ‘If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry’, Belleherst thinks poetry should do something to us physically. Therefore, in alternating performances with drama, the audience is given another point of access to the inner world of Emily through dance. 

                                           THE POET

EMILY DICKINSON 1830-1886

                          

                                   Is ‘my Verse... alive?’  Emily to Professor Higginson     

  ‘I have the greatest desire to see you,’ wrote Professor Higginson, Emily’s self-appropriated literary mentor and editor, ‘but … you only enshroud yourself in a fiery mist and I cannot reach you but only rejoice in the rare sparkles of light.’

'A memorable evening entertainment full of emotion and wit.'  La Jolla Light

          Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886, was born in Amherst, Massachusetts to a notable family of the Republic. Lawyers and educators populated the family clan; and the preservation of reputation and Calvinist spiritual disciplines ruled the day. Dickinson, however, saw herself through a different prism: ‘To normalize me is to miss my stature.’  However, her nearly 1,800 poems provide ample evidence that her stature was anything but ‘normal’. The self-proclaimed anchorite of poetry, dressed always in vestal white, often received guests as a disembodied voice behind a screen at the top of the stairs and only once in twenty-five years was she seen outside her father’s house. Still, through both friendships and correspondence, she negotiated passage through the most prestigious international literary groupings of her day. Brilliant and witty, the miniature woman transfixed the conventional literary critics of her time in ‘shock’ n’awe’ with her plethora of irregular poetic devices. But, today, a growing international literary audience designates her as a stunningly innovative 19th-century poet.

'…her life was rich, and all aglow with God and immortality. With no creed, no formulate faith, hardly knowing the names of dogmas, she walked this life with the gentleness and reverence of old saints, with the firm steps of martyrs who sing while they suffer.' The Springfield Republican, May 18, 1886 - unsigned obituary by Susan Dickinson, Emily's sister-in-law.

 

                                                       THE PERFORMER

Kathleen Ann Thompson

'An actress capable of being Emily Dickinson for two hours should not be overlooked.'  San Diego Union-Whelton Jones  

 'A memorable evening entertainment full of emotion and wit.' La Jolla Light

                                         

‘I am small, like the wren, but my hair is bold, like the chestnut bur, and my eyes like the sherry in the glass that the guest leaves’. Emily Dickinson

      She may have been small but her wit and affection for her world were larger than life. They make for a memorable evening of entertainment performed by Kathleen Ann Thompson, nominated for the Atlas Award for Best Actress with the Old Globe theatre in San Diego, California.  Miss Thompson is Artistic Director of Belleherst Productions, touring widely in Europe and Eastern Europe. As director of The Lion’s Mouth Theatre in Poland, she was the recipient in Warsaw of the Polish national OFTA commendation. Kathleen holds a BA, MA and MFA degree in Theatre Arts and Musical Theatre from the University of Michigan and San Diego State University, as well as an honorary Professorship from The Yunan Institute for the Arts in Kunming, China.  She studied dance, mime and commedia dell’arte at world-renowned schools: The Jacque le Coq School for Movement Theatre - Paris, The Dell’Arte School for Movement Theatre – Blue Lake, California, The Institute for Advanced Studies in Classical Theatre - New York City, Universal Studio Theatre - Los Angeles and the California Shakespeare Festival - Los Gatos, California.

 

                                       THE REVIEWS

       Thompson... is riveting as she touches upon the most emotionally charged moments in Dickinson’s life. Immersed fully in the character of Emily Dickinson, Thompson is believable as an awkward young teenager and later, a pained woman. Dancing on stage, Thompson’s Dickinson is coquettish, wild, fun.....it is as if Dickinson’s innermost thoughts are exposed. ...what we see is freedom of expression – both Thompson’s and Dickinson’s. The wonderful words of this poetry are brought to light before us.

Ruth Christie.THE SKINNY Independent Cultural Journalism

     The actress Kathleen Ann Thompson is captivating and her attention to each and every minor detail is amazing; she donates her breath to Emily. The visible talent is bound with passion...tw rating 5/5   THREEWEEKS

        Thompson is so exacting and studied in her physical portrayal of Dickinson ... using a wide palette of gestures to paint her picture of Dickinson’s  personality, that no text is wasted and seems always to serve the physical presence on stage... this physicality is set free and leads the spoken text to ever greater heights of expression.                                                            Darran Laine, FRINGE REVIEWS


         Kathleen Thompson is a truly extraordinary performer. Her work in physical theatre, her gifted choreography, her mesmerising acting, her ability to communicate to mind, soul and spirit: Kathleen is a rare visionary, an ardent communicator, an experienced professional, a woman who knows what's of value and embraces it.                                    Patricia Beal, FRINGE REVIEWS

 

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