Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, another play with a "Titanic" theme hits the stage. Scotland Road, by Jeffrey Hatcher, has its Michigan premiere at the Meadow Brook Theatre Feb. 10.
Scotland Road, a play set in the 1990s, tells the tale of a young woman found floating in the North Atlantic sea on an iceberg. Adorned in 1912 clothing and able to utter only one word, "Titanic," the young woman is transported to a sanitarium off the coast of Maine and interrogated by a man claiming to be the grandson of the late Jacob Astor.
This psychological thriller originally premiered off-Broadway at the Primary Stages theatre in January 1998. It has since been performed in many regional theatres including the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.
Hatcher wrote the play in 1992 under a different title, but then changed it to "Scotland Road" when he learned the phrase stood for the main passageway for first class passengers on the Titanic. Other works by Hatcher include an adaptation of the Henry James novel, "Turn of the Screw," Three Viewings, Fellow Travelers and Comfort and Joy.
Meadow Brook Theatre, Oakland University's professional theatre company, chose to do Scotland Road because it fits into this season's theme: a modern day look at things that happened in the past. For example, Geoffrey Sherman, artistic director of the Meadow Brook Theatre and director of Scotland Road, recently staged a version of Merry Wives of Windsor set in the 19th century "wild west." Starring in Scotland Road, which begins previews Feb. 10, opens Feb. 13 and runs through March 7, are David Ellenstein, Denise Michelle Young, Susan Arnold and Andee Seeger. Ellenstein and Young, who play the scientist and the lost young woman, are married in real life.
Scotland Road replaces the previously announced Tales from the Arabian Nights, which has been postponed until 2000.
Tickets for Scotland Road are currently on sale and can be obtained through the Meadow Brook Theatre box office at (248) 337-3300.
-- By Becki Heller and David Lefkowitz
