The Vigil or The Guided Cradle

Whenever I get a chance to cover live theater, I don’t waste the opportunity. When I heard about the rave reviews that playwright Crystal Skillman was receiving for her latest play, The Vigil or the Guided Cradle, I decided to contact her for an email interview. (Here’s a sampling of the raves “It’s shocking in a way that such a primitive idea as torture remains so much a part of public discourse in 2010, but The Vigil perversely helps us understand why it has such a hold on us, repelling and fascinating us at the same time. Skillman and Hurley’s collaboration here proves timely and incisive.” [nytheatre.com - Martin Denton]; and “Just when you thought archaic forms of torture had lost their sex appeal, playwright Crystal Skillman unearths a particularly brutal form of coercion in “The Vigil or the Guided Cradle.” [Backstage.com - Reviewed by Mitch Montgomery]). The play, presented by Impetuous Theater Group and The Brick Theater, Inc., is described as “A Medieval man tortures a terrorist in 15th Century Prague while a young tourist in the 21st Century befriends a stranger. A play about the danger of crossing over, between now and then, THE VIGIL or THE GUIDED CRADLE is a chilling portrait of the art of torture and those desperate enough to use their ability to create . . . no matter the cost.” The play runs through May 8 at the Brick Theater (575 Metropolitan Ave., Brooklyn, New York City) Thu.–Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m.-http://www.bricktheater.com/ or www.impetuoustheater.org. Skillman and I also got a chance to discuss some of her previous plays.

Tim O’Shea: How did you come to combine these two particular periods in history with this play (given that it addresses “A Medieval mercenary tortures a terrorist in 15th Century Prague while a young tourist in the 21st Century befriends a mysterious translator.”)

Crystal Skillman: Four years ago, I was being produced at a festival in Prague, and just by chance, we had arrived there the day after the Abu Ghraib photos had just been published. Those images were fresh on my mind, when we our group naively decided to visit The Torture Museum. As the museum went on and on, we came to realize these were all the actual instruments of torture used. It was intense. The museum really hits home that there is great thought and experimentation put into the creation of these torture devices. Half way through I turned a corner where I saw a full display of how The Vigil (or the Guided Cradle) torture device was the origin of Sleep Deprivation torture, and those Abu Ghraib photos, popped into my mind. This was the same thing, and I knew immediately I wanted to write a play about that. Right away, I realized to really capture this connection between this device and what is done today the play’s story would need to cut between now and then, weaving what is learned in the story as a whole. It was a huge task, but I kinda just knew that was the right approach. I’m lucky that Impetuous Theater Group and the Brick Theater both loved this approach as well and this play - they jumped on the opportunity to produce it together, at the Brick Theater where the play is running through May 8th.

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