Possession: A Peep-Show in Paradise

Name: Possession: A Peep-Show in Paradise
Author: Laurence Housman

By Laurence Housman

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Plays/Films/Dramas

About This Book

A short stage piece stages a scene in an apparently Victorian drawing-room in the Everlasting Habitations where an elderly genteel woman, her sisters, a returned widow, and a long-serving maid interact. Through decorous manners, petty rivalries and precise domestic ritual, old loyalties and disputes over ownership, expectation, and social rank are revealed. The play uses stage furniture, period detail and carefully controlled speech to satirize Victorian complacency and the fusion of religion and politics, presenting a lightly ironic, character-driven meditation on possession, memory and social ritual.

About the Author

Laurence Housman

Laurence Housman was an English playwright, poet, and illustrator, known for his contributions to Victorian literature. He was the brother of the more famous A.E. Housman and carved out his own niche with works that often explored themes of love, morality, and social issues. His notable plays include "Angels and Ministers, and Other Victorian Plays" and "Bethlehem: A Nativity Play," which reflect his interest in both the theatrical and the spiritual. Housman's writing is characterized by its lyrical quality and a deep engagement with the human experience, making him a significant figure in the literary heritage of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.