The Verge opens Wednesday 23rd September at the Network Theatre, bringing this 1921 play of high-pressure drama to life. Learn more about what you can expect:
1: What inspired the choice to modernise The Verge and explore its themes in modern society?
The Verge is renown for being the most complicated plays of Susan Glaspell’s career – and reading it we found out why! However complicated the language – the themes (restriction, wonder, destruction) striked and resonated with myself and my Assistant Director, Yasmin, so strongly we knew we had to take on the challenge. We couldn’t find any record of a production in the last 20 years, and it felt like a story that could so easily and needed to be brought to 2026, where we have seen the restriction and objectification of Women grow both online and in society. We’ve set it against a ambigious, timeless backdrop and cut down the script to allow Glaspell’s words to shine and to strike an audience just how it needs to.
2: How does Claire Archer’s character embody the idea of refusing to accept the world as it it?
Claire is a force to be reckoned with, she is tired of the repetitiveness of being a domestic housewife and what she is expected to be for others and as a woman, and has refused it for years, angering most of those around her. It comes to a head in the action of the Verge, when her husband, secret lover and childhood friend bombard her Greenhouse, her sancturary. With plants, Claire is attempting to create new, unusual things that break the norm and don’t follow the regular patterns. It is a reflection of what she herself wants to achieve, and when Tom, Dick and Harry disturb her distraction all hell breaks loose, which has been a joy to direct.
3: How do the characters influence Claire’s journey?
Our Claire, Lina Bekkouche, said something that’s really stuck with me in rehearsals. Claire is constantly reacting to others, the other characters call her crazy, but she is only reacting to the pushing and prodding that they are doing to her. Claire is choosing to stick by her morals, her beliefs and not back down to others – that was then (and is still often now) frowned upon. Even the women of the play are a reminder that Claire is unnatural, and the cast have enjoyed looking at the 1921 versions of their characters with their own eyes and experiences, and at times this has been quite sobering.
4: What do you hope audiences will take away from this modern interpretation?
That differences aren’t bad, we shouldn’t hold people back from their dreams, passions and autonomy, and to trust what their gut tells them.
And to try eggs without salt every once and a while.
5: What has been your favourite part about creating this production?
It’s been just over a year since I signed up for this project, and it never feels real until all your creative team are on board and you have a full cast. Each new person that joins and buys into my vision, hopes and desires for a show brings me such joy and brings the production up a notch. Seeing the set on stage and hearing the words coming out of an actor rather than in your head, for me makes all the worries and doubts worth it.
6: What has been the most enjoyable part about creating The Verge?
Staging the drama!! Most of my previous shows have been comedies, and whilst the Verge does have humour, it’s used for a completely different reason than the slapstick of my previous work. The audience need to believe the fight scenes in this rather than laugh at them, and need to feel the complexity of each character’s emotional arc. It’s definetly been a challenge, but a fun one.
The Verge opens Wednesday 23rd September at the Network Theatre. Many thanks to Emily Denton for answering our questions. Book your tickets here!
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