The Actress by Peter Quilter

“The last show is always a very strange affair. It’s like a party, a great buzz of excitement. But then each actor will leave, with laughter still ringing in the air and a cheery wave. Then it stops. And as you watch each of them walk down the street, they look terribly lonely. That’s the thing about it, you see. After all the applause and elation, we walk home alone. And that’s who actors are—the happiest, saddest people you’ll ever meet.”

The Actress dramatizes the events backstage as a colourful, complicated actress makes her emotional farewell performance.
Various people from Lydia’s life invade her dressing room to say their goodbyes, declare their love, roar with laughter, spit insults, grab a final embrace and renew old battles.
We meet the Company Manager, Lydia’s agent, her daughter, her ex-husband, her Dresser and her Elderly Fiance/sugar daddy!! And, of course Lydia herself.
The action takes place on the night of Lydia’s farewell performance of “The Cherry Orchard”. She is now preparing for a quiet life in Switzerland with Charles. It is a Comedy but there are some beautiful poignant scenes as we meet each of Lydia’s contacts across the years of a very successful Theatrical career.
Will she really retire?