NPX Weekly Roundup: The Lady of the Sea by William Forrest

A bubbly comedy utilizing commedia del arte, opera, and Shakespeare-style farce, plus three other plays I found this week.

May 26, 2025

I have a little bit of a backlog of subscriber requests— which is a delightful problem to have! I am excited that so many of you have works that you want me to look into and that you want our community to be aware of. And the requests are so varied, too. Some are playwrights requesting I read their own work, some are inquiries into plays people may have heard of but not yet read, and others are people telling me, “girl, you have to read this one, it’s so good and everyone needs to know!”. You always have my word though that, unless you ask me to disclose your identity, all subscriber requests are anonymous!

This weeks play, as you could probably tell, is a subscriber request. Next week will be one as well!

The Lady of the Sea by Will Forrest was pitched to me as a work in conversation with my play, PIETA, due to the historical nature, music, and general Italian-ness of it. I would agree! I think perhaps my play and this one are in the same family tree— not siblings, but perhaps cousins of some kind— just due to the setting and framing devices.

Here is the official summary from NPX:

It's 1885 and Eleonora Duse, soon to be the world's most famous actor, is in trouble. She's about to perform outside Italy for the first time, but for now she's stuck on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic with her distant husband, a loud opera and ballet company with a maniac impresario, a three year old daughter back in Italy, and a captain who reminds her a lot of her dead grandfather. She needs help, but being an actor and an Italian, there will be a lot of yelling, singing, dancing, and gesturing involved. An unforgettable journey, THE LADY OF THE SEA is a tribute to the performing arts, Italian culture, love, family, seafaring, and celestial navigation.

I want to preface my remarks by saying that I believe this is a great beginning draft— in my professional opinion, this play is not yet at a place where it is “finished” enough for a full performance. It is, however, a promising piece that I think we can still learn from, hence why I am covering it here.

This play is a true ensemble work, featuring characters inspired by commedia del arte stock characters as well as historical figures such as Eleonora Duse. In true comedic fashion, all are trapped together on a ship going from Italy to Brazil for 22 days. So many big personalities are on board that one is surprised it takes more than a page or two for the dramatics to ensue! Everything is framed by the character of the Shipmaster, who interacts directly with the audience to teach them about old school navigation techniques. But this is not the only important structural element that Forrest uses— there are also the traditional lazzi from commedia, i.e. structured comedic ‘bits’, as well as many arias and pieces from operas of the time (the late 1800s). This doesn’t include the innate framing in utilizing stock characters, which give the playwright something reliable to return to over and over again. I would venture to call this work a ‘play with music’ that is part variety performance and part Shakespearean farce. All in all, I feel as though this would be incredibly entertaining to see staged!

As you can probably tell, the structure is one of the most successful things about this play. The second strongest elements are the bits inspired by commedia— i.e. the lazzi bits and the stock characters. It is evident that Forrest did a lot of research and/or is well learned in this topic. As a person with Two Very Expensive Papers in Theatre, I loved seeing all the little bits from commedia! They were like little inside jokes for theater people. Forrest also fleshes out the stock characters, giving them more depth and personality without stripping them of their core nature. What was really great though is that one does not have to be familiar with commedia at all to understand what’s going on or find the bits funny. Much like you don’t have to be a Shakespeare expert to enjoy well performed Shakespeare, I don’t think an audience would have an access issue here.

What I think would make a next draft of this piece even more successful is a paring down of unnecessary dialogue and a good think on what the focus of the piece is. I absolutely adored the parts featuring Eleonora Duse. She is an extremely compelling character. However, her story and the ensemble farce going on on deck above her cabin don’t seem to mix. They seem like two different stories at the moment. Two very delightful stories, well structured and entertaining— but different nevertheless. The summary given on NPX seems to indicate that this is Eleonora’s story, but it doesn’t quite feel like that is the case at the moment. In fact, it felt more like Anna’s (the commedia harlequin) story to me!

This is an instance where as a playwright, I acknowledge how difficult it can be to meld all the various themes, literary devices, bits, and characters into one cohesive story. It is incredibly hard. Especially when one is tackling real, historical figures and/or events— I should know. What I’m learning from writing the seventh (ish) draft of PIETA is that in most cases, just a pinch of knowledge is enough. What I mean is, we don’t always need a whole multi-page scene talking about something to get the point across. Just a hint, just a tad here and there, connected across the piece— and you’re good. Reading this draft of The Lady of the Sea cemented this lesson for me. You don’t need a lot of something to understand it. There are parts where this work does this, and parts where it does not. And that’s the thing with early drafts! With each draft you write, these things become more connected, drawing a beautiful web of interconnecting messages, symbols, plot points, and more.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed reading this piece! It was very funny, heartwarming, and had some really solid structure that I as a structure and form nerd quite appreciated. I can’t wait to see what Forrest does with this in later drafts.

Here is my official recommendation from NPX:

A great beginning draft of a romp through commedia, opera, and Shakespearean style comedy! Forrest uses each of these styles to create the intricate ensemble dynamics that push this story along. A great love and respect for history and Italian culture permeates this script. I had a delightful time reading this.

What did you think of this piece? Let me know in the comments!

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