Restell
A Play in Two Acts
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This is a play about 19th century abortionist Madame Restell and her daring escape from the clutches of the notorious anti-vice activist Anthony Comstock. The play features a large and colorful Dickensian cast of characters, and explodes with the drama of the Gilded Age in New York City.
Contradictions abound when the “Wickedest Woman in New York” is also the wealthiest woman in New York, and the daughters of the most famous families in America find their reputations dependent on the services of a woman who is universally shunned. Restell’s escape relies on the combined ingenuity of an African American postal agent, and her fellow Irish immigrants.
The play opens with a scene in Anthony Comstock’s office, where he vows to end Madame Restell’s forty-year career of selling abortifacients, contraceptives, and informational brochures through the US mail. A newly-appointed agent of the Post Office, Anthony, is on a personal mission to purge the country—and its mail— of all forms of godlessness.
Thomas Ward, a young African American man, is haunted by the death of his twin sister, a victim of sexual predators. Ward, on a path of vengeance, signs up to work with Anthony.
Recruited to entrap Madame Restell, Thomas impersonates a married man seeking abortifacient pills, but Carrie, Restell’s granddaughter, sees through him immediately and delivers a blistering lesson on the reality of women’s lives in the late 19th century. Thomas realizes that the woman he is trying to entrap could have saved his sister’s life, and he turns against his employer. Thomas alerts Restell to Comstock’s plans to raid her home, but his warning comes too late, and Act I ends with Restell’s arrest and the confiscation of her supplies.
Act II opens with Restell out on bail and plotting with her granddaughter and Thomas to fake her own suicide on the eve of her trial, thereby creating a diversion that will enable her to escape to Canada and sail to France. Thomas and Carrie, both firebrands, call each other out on their respective prejudices and begin to arrive at an appreciation of their differences. Thomas volunteers to provide the corpse that is needed to stage the suicide.
Restell’s estranged and alcoholic daughter, Caroline (who is Carrie’s mother), overhears the plans, and makes a plan of her own. She intends to pre-empt the fake suicide by forcing her mother into protective custody as a suicide risk—a move that, conveniently, would give Caroline access, as legal guardian, to her mother’s fortune.
Thanks to the quick thinking of Carrie, Thomas, Restell’s maid, and a friendly mortician, Caroline’s attempted kidnapping is thwarted, and by morning the word has spread across the city that Restell has slit her own throat in the bathtub.
Meanwhile, Anthony discovers that his prey has escaped, but he is dissuaded from launching an international manhunt by his attorney friend, who points out the political expediency of going along with the deception and declaring a victory for his campaign.
Loose ends are tied up and the play ends on the deck of a transatlantic steamer, where a mysterious “Mrs. Smith” is dictating a telegram to her former nemesis, drawing his attention to the fact that her supposed suicide occurred on the first of April—April Fool’s Day.
7 females, 9 males (a number of these roles can be doubled for a cast of 4 females, 6 males)
Multiple sets
2 hours
Contradictions abound when the “Wickedest Woman in New York” is also the wealthiest woman in New York, and the daughters of the most famous families in America find their reputations dependent on the services of a woman who is universally shunned. Restell’s escape relies on the combined ingenuity of an African American postal agent, and her fellow Irish immigrants.
The play opens with a scene in Anthony Comstock’s office, where he vows to end Madame Restell’s forty-year career of selling abortifacients, contraceptives, and informational brochures through the US mail. A newly-appointed agent of the Post Office, Anthony, is on a personal mission to purge the country—and its mail— of all forms of godlessness.
Thomas Ward, a young African American man, is haunted by the death of his twin sister, a victim of sexual predators. Ward, on a path of vengeance, signs up to work with Anthony.
Recruited to entrap Madame Restell, Thomas impersonates a married man seeking abortifacient pills, but Carrie, Restell’s granddaughter, sees through him immediately and delivers a blistering lesson on the reality of women’s lives in the late 19th century. Thomas realizes that the woman he is trying to entrap could have saved his sister’s life, and he turns against his employer. Thomas alerts Restell to Comstock’s plans to raid her home, but his warning comes too late, and Act I ends with Restell’s arrest and the confiscation of her supplies.
Act II opens with Restell out on bail and plotting with her granddaughter and Thomas to fake her own suicide on the eve of her trial, thereby creating a diversion that will enable her to escape to Canada and sail to France. Thomas and Carrie, both firebrands, call each other out on their respective prejudices and begin to arrive at an appreciation of their differences. Thomas volunteers to provide the corpse that is needed to stage the suicide.
Restell’s estranged and alcoholic daughter, Caroline (who is Carrie’s mother), overhears the plans, and makes a plan of her own. She intends to pre-empt the fake suicide by forcing her mother into protective custody as a suicide risk—a move that, conveniently, would give Caroline access, as legal guardian, to her mother’s fortune.
Thanks to the quick thinking of Carrie, Thomas, Restell’s maid, and a friendly mortician, Caroline’s attempted kidnapping is thwarted, and by morning the word has spread across the city that Restell has slit her own throat in the bathtub.
Meanwhile, Anthony discovers that his prey has escaped, but he is dissuaded from launching an international manhunt by his attorney friend, who points out the political expediency of going along with the deception and declaring a victory for his campaign.
Loose ends are tied up and the play ends on the deck of a transatlantic steamer, where a mysterious “Mrs. Smith” is dictating a telegram to her former nemesis, drawing his attention to the fact that her supposed suicide occurred on the first of April—April Fool’s Day.
7 females, 9 males (a number of these roles can be doubled for a cast of 4 females, 6 males)
Multiple sets
2 hours
