Bodice Ripper

It is right around the turn of the 19th century. Max is a physician and a bit of an odd duck; he lives with his fiancée, Marie, a woman he met on his operating table. When Marie begins experiencing fits of hysteria, Max is determined to figure out whether it is the devil or a disease at play. As he tries to assuage Marie’s suffering, he is pulled into an erotic battle between societal expectation and desire, between shame and sensuality. Bodice Ripper is a darkly funny, anachronistic adventure investigating the complicated paths we take to experience pleasure without the restriction of shame. 

This play explores the way that many marginalized people find ways to experience desire through unconventional paths, especially when they feel the need to circumvent societal repression. In this case, it is Marie who finds that her demonic possession allows her to express sexual desire in spite of her social and religious expectations. In no uncertain terms, it is a raunchy play about sex, but it is also a hard look at why the most common fantasy for women is ravishment. The title, Bodice Ripper, is a reference to the genre of romance material that has been degraded for decades because of its purported bad influence on women; this play aims to situate one woman’s fantasy as a means of empowerment rather than internalized misogyny, regardless of its social baggage. 

Developmental History 

• Semi-Finalist for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwright’s Conference 2026

• Rehearsed reading at Side/Step Festival (September 2025)

• Performance of extracts at Golden Goose Theatre for Final Cut Theatre’s Frayed at the Edges Scratch 2025

• Rehearsed reading of extracts with Scroll Arc Theatre 2025

Cast: 1F, 1M / Run time: 70 minutes