Page 7 Tuesday, October 22, 2013
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A Haunting on DoG Street The Flat Hat investigates the
Ghosts of Williamsburg Check back next week for more haunting features
GRAPHIC BY DANI ARON-SCHIAVONE / THE FLAT HAT
The Flat Hat
Welcome to historic Williamsburg’s boulevard of restless phantoms BY AINE CAIN FLAT HAT VARIETY EDITOR
If you plan to stay at the Ludwell Paradise House overnight, don’t expect a good night’s sleep. It’s difficult to get proper shuteye while the ghost of an insane woman splashes and laughs manically in the next room. According to local legend, that’s just ‘Loony’ Lucy Ludwell Paradise, continuing her legacy of madness from beyond the grave. Lucy was born into the gentile Virginian Ludwell family toward the end of the 18th century. From an early age, she demonstrated disturbing violent tendencies, forcing her parents to send her to England in fear of her embarrassing the family at home. Original Ghosts of Williamsburg Candlelight Walking Tour guide Clare Britcher recommends against attempting contact with such a temperamental — and potentially violent — spirit. “Lucy Ludwell Paradise is a ghost who in life was mentally ill, and apparently in death, she continues to be insane,” Britcher said. “Lucy is an example of why I am no ghost hunter and why I think people need to be a little cautious about such things. Crazy is unpredictable.” In England, Lucy married scholar John Paradise, who died soon into the marriage. Shortly afterward, the widow returned to Williamsburg in a hurry — she was shunned by polite society after dumping the scalding contents of a teapot on a gentleman’s head in London. She quickly alienated Virginian society with her snobby attitude and penchant for stealing. Lucy was also known to bathe
excessively, five or six times a day. The final straw came when she began entertaining Williamsburg residents with her infamous carriage rides — which consisted of servants pulling a coach around the back porch of her house. Lucy would eagerly point out at the window at notable English landmarks, as her guests watched in terror. She was committed to a mental asylum around 1812 and would never return to her home on the Duke of Gloucester Street — as a living person, anyhow. ‘Loony’ Lucy is just one of the many specters haunting DoG Street. Longtime ghost tour guide Heidi Hartwiger — who has been a guide with Original Ghosts of Williamsburg Candlelight Walking Tour for 18 years — described one late night encounter with what appeared to be a Colonial Williamsburg re-enactor. As her tour group walked by the Wythe House, she watched a woman in servant garb melt into the door. “I thought I would go into cardiac arrest,” Hartwiger said. “The little boy who had been my buddy all evening kept saying, ‘Miss Heidi, Miss Heidi, where’d that woman go?’ Then with the most profound answer that any spooks person had ever given, I said, ‘I think she went inside.’” Hartwiger has come across this ghost multiple times in her career as a guide. She noted that local ghost author L.B. Taylor believes the phantom to be a “worrier” — perhaps a servant attempting to organize dinner for late company. A former student at the College of William and Mary, Adam Stackhouse ’04 became an independent ghost tour guide primarily because he enjoyed
wandering through Colonial Williamsburg on fall evenings. One incident at the Wythe House left him questioning the possibility of the paranormal. After performing the customary “shoe-and-chant-deal” on the steps of the house, the crowd shifted strangely outside. Several startled members of the group claimed that they had been shoved to the side. “Looking down from the steps it was like a thick semicircle of people with a big open area suddenly appearing where Lady Anne would have run down the sidewalk,” Stackhouse said in an email. “I think there’s justification for the vast majority of the knocks and lights you might encounter on any tour, but that one moment really stuck with me moving forward.” However, not all of the ghosts of DoG Street manifest themselves in such alarming ways. One of Hartwiger’s favorite places to bring her tour group is the Bruton Parish Cemetery. Little Matty Whaley and his ghostly playmates are said haunt the graveyard and the Palace Green. Matty’s mother eventually founded a school in honor of her nine-year-old son that would eventually give rise to modern Williamsburg’s Matthew Whaley School. “Often on the Palace Green people feel a pinch or a tickle or a pony tail gets tugged,” Hartwiger said. “We know it is Little Matty. The old timers I have talked to over the years tell me that just before sunset in the summer down near the Governor’s Palace listen carefully to the mockingbirds. They are not singing other bird songs — as mockingbirds will do — they are singing the laughter of children.”
FEATURE PHOTOS
A Muscarelle Museum of Art-sponsored Glenn Close movie night was held for students on Sun. Oct. 20. Students watched “The Big Chill” while treats were provided for attendees.
ALL PHOTOS BY KRISTEN ASKEW / THE FLAT HAT
The Two Character Play: A spartan, powerful production
Student director Kelsey Schneider presents her intricate version of one of Tennessee Williams’s darkest, most obscure works BY KAYLA SHARPE THE FLAT HAT
“To play with fear is to play with fire,” or is it much, much worse? This weekend the Studio Theater of Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall became a vortex of palpable emotion and delusion in “The Two Character Play.” Written by Tennessee Williams in 1972, “The Two Character Play” is seldom performed, making it a unique challenge for student director Kelsey Schneider ’14. After being abandoned by their theater troupe, sibling acting duo Felice, played by Robin Crigler ’14, and Clare, played by Taylor Schwabe ’15, struggle to come to terms with their desperate isolation and the violent deaths of their parents. Having to rely on each other, they soon realize that getting lost in the play may mean losing your mind. Crigler and Schwabe tackled the complexities
of the play with aplomb. They displayed extreme commitment to portraying multiple characters at once, as Felice and Clare try to distinguish between their own identities and those of their characters. Both actors worked well off each other’s energies to portray awkwardness, conflict and engaging character development. Aside from a few dragging moments, their quick transitions between slow, halting conversation and fast-paced, climatic discords laced with passive aggressive and even comical subtext, served to further blur the lines between reality and insanity. Crigler demonstrated a great range of ability as his character transformed from a nervous and agitated older brother desperately trying to shelter his sister from the harsh realities of the world, to a vehement force determined to expand her boundaries. Schwabe exuded a strong identity as she broke free from the brother’s protectiveness and
attempted to reach out into the world, only to be confined by her own fears. Her dynamism played well off her partner’s and added a great deal of intensity to the production. The show’s technical maneuverings ran smoothly. Lighting designed by Sunny Vinsavich ’15 cast dynamic shadows across the stage and smooth transitions between onstage and offstage as well as interior and exterior lighting lent a sense of solidity to an otherwise confounding play. Sound designed by Jess Hoover ’15 was clear and precise. A consistent audience murmur added to the show’s believability and helped to set the scene without causing distraction. The set itself correlated to the atmosphere of the Studio Theater. Spartan set pieces did not detract from the complexity of the plot and allowed for maximum maneuverability of the actors, whilst scenic design by Cara Katrinak provided a nice balance of light and dark. The close proximity of
the audience to the stage itself allowed Crigler and Schwabe to project dynamic facial expressions, body language and diction. Makeup was appropriate for the close proximity of the theater while costumes designed by Madeline Dippold reflected both characters’ inherent personalities in relation to their frazzled and twisted states of mind. “The Two Character Play” is a testament to the dominance of fear and confinement over the human psyche. The director, cast and crew undertook the intricacy of what is one of Tennessee Williams’s most beautiful plays with dedication and prowess. The magnitude of the performance was balanced by the relatable sentiment of a brother and sister who find strength in their familial bond to one another, but can only achieve solace if they manage to come to terms with their troubled past before their beloved theater becomes their tomb.