Berkshire on Stage

The stress of the Covid -19 pandemic was bound to make its way into the theater canon. New mothers, during this time, faced health fears, the isolation of lockdown, compounded with parenting a newborn. These topics are addressed in the world premiere of Yellow Wallpaper 2.0 2020 by Jennifer Maisel performed at Great Barrington Public Theater. Based on the semi-autobiographical short story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, written in 1892, what was once diagnosed as hysteria is seen in the present-day as post-partum depression. We watch T’s serious struggles develop and explode over 90 minutes in her bedroom covered with yellow wallpaper.

T, played by the indefatigable Cloteal L. Horne, walks excitedly into her prewar-6 apartment (a traditional six-room apartment in a building constructed before 1940) inherited by her husband, a Ph.D. theater professor. She is an adjunct professor and new mom, and she’s delighted to note the yellow wallpaper on the walls as, she too, has read Gilman’s short story. Relating to Gilman’s postpartum issues, which at the time was treated with home confinement, T believes she has found a soul mate, as she continues to read her well-worn copy of her book.

Spending the entire play talking to the audience, T begins to feel symptoms of what she is convinced is Covid-19. She feels compelled to stay in her bedroom. At the same time, she shares what her life was like before her baby Cam was born. We hear about meeting her husband, John, their strong attraction and active sex life, followed by infertility, and her wait to feel a rush of love when her son is born. While making sure we know how much she truly loves her son, she also fears shattering him and wonders if her kind sister-in-law would be a better parent. Despite having a new member of the family, she cannot understand why she feels lonely. Yet, she also misses being alone.

We watch the tickle in her nose and throat become a full-blown relentless cough with tightness in her chest while she loses her sense of taste and smell. Throughout the play, her husband John (Matt Neely) frantically knocks on the bedroom door, begging her to come out, doubting she has anything more than a cold. We hear Cam crying in the background. We do not see either character. T dons a mask and opens the door carefully, when food is left for her. Her baby’s cries stimulate her breasts to let-down anticipating breast feeding. She is sure her breast milk is contaminated. As T’s symptoms grow worse, John wants her to go to the hospital. T feels safer at home. As the audience, we wonder if T truly has Covid.

Where T’s experience really mirrors Gilman’s story is when she sees ripples and waves in the wallpaper, exhibiting signs of postpartum psychosis. She imagines the wallpaper lifting itself to the moonlight, as her hallucinations grow worse.

Knowing how much T admires Gilman, John gives her further writing by the author written after “Yellow Wallpaper.” Realizing how Gilman is not the progressive liberal feminist she imagined destroys T even further.

Director (and co-artistic director) Judy Braha wisely chooses Horne to play T. Aside from this role basically being a one-woman show, Horne believably plays a woman who is bright, vital and successful entering into madness, while never leaving the self-imposed exile of her bedroom. Because the stage is between two sides of the audience on risers, Braha has T address both sides as the story evolves and T becomes more agitated. Although I saw the final preview before the opening that evening, I marveled at how comfortable Horne is with her endless lines, while allowing her character to develop, break down and continue to hold our attention.

Matt Neely, making his debut at GBPT, is no stranger to Berkshire stages. While not being visible other than his silhouette behind the bedroom door, we hear his interest and growing concern for his wife as he grows more frantic, and struggles to parent alone. We cannot help but think about how many families were in this similar situation during the pandemic.

Lighting Designer Lara Dubin plays a pivotal role in this play, highlighting the yellow wallpaper as another character, along with different shadows that enable the audience to imagine the movement that T sees. The lighting behind the bedroom door allows John to be seen as simply a shadow, or possibly a ghost. Neither image is comforting.

Sound Designer Vinny Pruchnick effectively creates an eerie tone between scenes, evoking a sense of dread. He also allows us to hear the cheers and beating of pots that were prevalent in Manhattan thanking the first responders during the pandemic. While Cam is never seen, his cries from missing his mother are heard clearly as we watch T struggle hearing her baby.

Scenic Designer Juliana von Haubrich has the challenge of creating a believable bedroom set from this prewar-6 apartment in GBPT’s small space. The audience virtually walks into the bedroom while entering the theater, enabling us to feel T’s environment. We see a hodgepodge of area rugs, an old bed with a crocheted afghan, lamps, and a comfortable leather chair. And, yes, we see the yellow wallpaper, frayed at the edges.

As the third world premiere play this season at GBPT, Yellow Wallpaper 2.0 2020 evokes important issues affecting our current world. We are still experiencing the effects from the pandemic which occurred six years ago. Postpartum depression has always been around and is not going away but has only recently been treated as a real disease with effective counseling and medication. We see it on trial today in the Lindsay Clancy case, which is more a case of the relatively rare postpartum psychosis. Kudos to Great Barrington Public Theater for doing Maisel’s play and allowing us to enter T’s inner world, brought to life by the very talented Cloteal L. Horne. I look forward to continued new works for which GBPT is known.

Great Barrington Public Theater presents the world premiere of Yellow Wallpaper 2.0 2020 by Jennifer Maisel, directed by Judy Braha, August 20-September 6, 2026, at St. James Place, 352 Main Street in Great Barrington, MA. CAST: Cloteal L. Horne as T, Matt Neely as John. CREATIVE TEAM: Scenic Designer Juliana von Haubrich, Sound Designer Vinny Pruchnick, Lighting Designer Lara Dubin, Stage Manager Kaleigh Cerqua, Costume Designer George W. Veale VI, Assistant Director/Young Collaborator Marlo Alexander.

Tickets and information for Yellow Wallpaper 2.0-2020 can be found on the GBPT website and by phone 413-372-1980. 

The show runs about 95 minutes with no intermission.