Cara Johnston

 

​THE MADWOMAN

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France 1817. The French Revolution is over for all except one. Théroigne de Méricourt has stepped out of the revolution and into the asylum. Left unsupervised, she spends her final days crafting her life's great work, an opera about the revolution she never left behind. As the self-cast leading lady of her own imagination, Théroigne performs to an illusory audience and a standing ovation. 

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CASTING: 1w.

SET REQUIREMENTS: Single unit set.

RUN TIME: 50 minutes​

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DEVELOPEMENT HISTORY

Produced:

• Sunstone Studios, Milwaukee, WI - 2022

• Festival Fringe, Edinburgh, Scotland - 2022

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AWARDS

OffFest Nomination- 2023

"Pick of the Fringe- Chris Neville Smith Blog on Theatre

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ABOUT THE MADWOMAN

Written by Cara Johnston, THE MADWOMAN is inspired by true events! Théroigne de Méricourt was an aspiring opera singer, who travelled across Europe as a courtesan, settling in Paris just before the Bastille was stormed. She became swept up in the early stirrings of the revolution and became a significant figure during the French Revolution for her activism in advocating for women's rights and her participation in revolutionary events. She was sent to La Salpêtrière Hospital in 1807, where she spent the final decade of her life, speaking constantly about the revolution. She died on 8 June 1817. 

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“See Théroigne, by blood and fire enraged,

Hounding a shoeless rabble to the fray,

Who plays herself on a flaming stage,

As she climbs, sword in hand, the royal stairway.”

- Charles Baudelaire

from SISINA, published in 1859​

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