The Words Upon The Window Pane by W.B. Yeats

A dramatic exploration of the occult, the play features a seance in which Jonathan Swift's voice is projected though a medium, along with those of his two lovers, Stella and Vanessa. The Dublin Spiritualists' Association is about to hold a seance in rooms once visited by Stella, the name Jonathan Swift gave to his beloved Esther Johnson. One of the windows has part of a poem by Stella scratched in the glass. After some debate between the various attendees at the seance, amongst whom are a clergyman, a gambler, and a Cambridge student writing a thesis on Swift, the medium Mrs Henderson begins. A spirit Lulu is driven away by an ugly old man, who turns out to be Swift, to whom Vanessa (Hester Vanhomrigh) makes a declaration of love. Swift refuses to be responsible for a child coming into the world, wishing to leave only his intellect to posterity. Quoting Stella's poem, Swift then tells of his love for her. The Cambridge student John Corbet is suitably impressed by Mrs Henderson's performance, but she denies all knowledge of Swift. Left on her own, Swift speaks through her once more: ‘Perish the day on which I was born!’

Cast:
Bryan Burroughs
Declan Conlon
Fionnuala Gygax
Fiona Lucia McGarry
Máire Ní Ghráinne
Helen Norton
Ian O'Reilly
Don Wycherley
Director: Sarah Jane Scaife
Unseen Plays Curator: Professor Christopher Morash
Audio Recording: Windmill Lane Recording Studios

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