Four one act plays**, THE HAUNTED BARONET, GREEN TEA, SCHALKEN THE PAINTER and ULTOR DE LACY, have never been professionally produced, and are freely adapted from the ghost stories of Joseph Sheridan LeFanu. Liberties have been taken with regard to the plots, characters, and much of the dialog is inspired by the tales rather than quoted directly. Each play is approximately one hour in length, and may be performed in any order, any two constituting an evening of theatrical horror.

Joseph Sheridan LeFanu

Joseph Sheridan LeFanu (1814-1873), a Dubliner and great grandnephew of the dramatist, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, was a lifelong melancholic who in later years became a recluse. Although LeFanu was a graduate of Trinity College in Dublin and studied for the bar, he renounced law for journalism and was the editor of several newspapers and periodicals. He married, but when his wife died, withdrew completely from society, refusing to see even his closest friends. LeFanu was a successful and prolific author, but is most remembered for his supernatural stories. He is considered to be the father of the psychological ghost story, the first to realize that the personality of the beholder of a supernatural manifestation is as relevant as the manifestation itself. LeFanu was interested in fathoming the hidden psyches of his characters, of mapping out the boundaries of their realities, both perceived and imagined.

THE SCRIPTS of all four plays

SYNOPSES of all four plays

These scripts are avilable separately for ease of reading and download. See Plays index.