NONSENSE AND BEAUTY
by Scott C. Sickles
In 1930, E.M. Forster met and fell in love with Bob Buckingham, a policeman 23 years his junior. Before long, fear of discovery forced Bob to court and marry May, a young nurse. The ensuring love triangle, turbulent and unique, evolved until Forster’s death nearly forty years later.
- Cast Size: 3M 2W
- Running Time: 90+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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About the Playwright
SCOTT C. SICKLES (he/him) is an LGBTQ/neurodivergent/multiracial Korean American writer. His plays have been performed in New York City, across the U.S., and internationally in Canada, Australia, the UK, Hungary, Singapore, Indonesia, Lebanon, and Dubai. Full-lengths: Nonsense and Beauty (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis – Edgerton New Play Award, ATCA Steinberg Award Finalist; Theatre22, Seattle); Marianas Trench (O’Neill finalist; Portland Stage; Leviathan Lab); Pangea (Garry Marshall Theatre); The Known Universe (Mixed Asian Media Fest); Playing on the Periphery: Monologues and Scenes for and About Queer Kids (Whim Productions, KCMO); Perfecting the Kiss (Capital Fringe); Composure (Lambda Literary finalist, Next Stage Press); Intellectuals (Smith & Kraus); Hairdresser on Fire, From the Top, Moonlight & Love Songs(all at Next Stage Press). Published shorts: Beautiful Noises (Smith & Kraus), Turtles and Bulldogs (Applause); Badger and Frame (Applause). Five consecutive Writers Guild of America Awards for General Hospital, and multiple Emmy nominations. www.ScottCSickles.com
I had the privilege of directing this beautiful, haunting script. The rhetoric is so rich we spent two weeks just on the table read, and every rehearsal the actors or myself would make new discoveries. I also had the privilege of the author’s presence at our production. He was so generous and enjoyed our production.
What a gorgeous play, easily the most elegant, and passionate, of Scott Sickles’ oeuvre. Simmering with a delicious sexual tension that never boils over into melodrama, this is a delicate but frank look at the mores of a different time, when “the love that dare not speak its name” spoke in many hidden ways, most of them unfulfilling to those speaking them, and the emotional toll it cost was devastating. As is “Nonsense and Beauty.” Devastating, and achingly beautiful.
Review Nonsense and Beauty.