COVE

Polly Pen and Peggy Harmon’s theatre production of Goblin Market was published by the Dramatists Play Service Inc, and first opened on October 17, 1985 at New York Vineyard’s Theatre. The production would later move to a longer and more successful run at Circle in the Square. The production company itself, formed in 1936 by a group of playwrights and theatre agents, focused on fostering national opportunities for playwrights by offering affordable publications. This would’ve been a significant detail for Pen, who both co-authored and composed Goblin Market as her first off-Broadway production out of her acting career. The play itself was adapted in a way that Pen described as a “reworking” to fit a new medium, but not actually committing to a larger reinterpretation. The show was said to be highly committed to the portrayal of the original language and the medium of the source, and was considered to be one of the most successful off-Broadway runs in New York at the time. The work earned about five Drama Desk Nominations and an award for Best Plays Special Citations for Music Composition and Adaptation. One of the biggest restraints with print to theatre adaptations is the concern with the lack of public access. Where a book may be printed in multiple identical copies, a performance will differ in interpretation and presentation depending on time and place, imposing current social contexts. During production, New York City had been most impacted by the 1980’s AIDs epidemic, and Pen described Christina Rosetti’s Goblin Market as a reflection of a very real, contemporary issue that resonated with New Yorkers at the time. She quoted that “the terror of a disease that kills people for, essentially, loving one another, for giving in to sexual temptations” was a connective theme between the original text and her rendition of desire. The physical cover and design of the playbook itself is minimal, with limited illustrations and no actual named artist. 

Sources: 

Weltman, Sharon Aronofsky. “Polly Pen and Peggy Harmon’s Goblin Market.” Streaky Bacon: A Guide to Victorian Adaptations. www.streakybacon.net/polly-pen-and-peggy-harmons-goblin-market/.

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