Southport Magazine

Bringing to life Emily Dickinson

Story By Lisa Stites

The renowned poet and recluse Emily Dickinson is the topic of much media lately, with movies and television retelling her life story. Veteran local actress Carolyn Stringer is bringing it to Brunswick Little Theatre’s stage in the form of a one-woman show. 

“The Belle of Amherst” runs Jan 30-Feb 1, with show times at 7:30 p.m. Jan 31-31 and Feb 1, and a matinee at 3 p.m. on Feb 1. Tickets can be purchased at Ricky Evans Gallery in Southport and online at brunswicklittletheatre.com (go to Get Tickets Here). Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for students.

The show was written by William Luce, and actress Julie Harris won a Tony for her betrayal of Dickinson. Ken Greenwood, actor, former educator, and poet, is directing the show locally. 

Dickinson was born in 1830 in Amherst, Massachusetts. She died in 1886, having penned more than 1,800 poems, only ten of which were published in her lifetime. 

Stringer said when Greenwood first approached her about doing the show, she readily agreed that it sounded interesting before she realized it was a one-woman show. She quickly started working on memorizing the 49 pages of script. 

“When I first started, I was like oh my gosh, it took me a day to get half a page,” she said. “But once I started…it just comes.” 

Stringer said she loves to read poetry, though she can’t write it at all. She’s learned that Dickinson wrote a lot about nature and about death, since she lost several people close to her. Dickinson also loved to cook and to bake, and she knew a lot about birds and plants. And later in life, she became a recluse, though Stringer said that didn’t mean Dickinson was fragile. 

“She was a strong woman. Even though she didn’t leave the house for years and years, it didn’t mean she was meek,” she said. 

The show will be staged a bit differently than the typical theatre show. It will be on the floor, a more intimate setting. Stringer said it will be like the audience is in Dickinson’s home in 1883, listening to her tell stories about her life from age 15 until close to her death in her 50s. Stringer said she loves this show, and she thinks that people who aren’t even fans of Dickinson or poetry will enjoy the show.  

In working on the role, Stringer said that without other actors or music to rely on, she’s had to create her own word association cues for what comes next in the show. She recites part of the poem “Hope,“ for example, and there is a line about “a crumb – of me,” and then a little bit later there is a bit about Dickinson’s friend Helen. Stringer said she uses the word crumb to think of Helen Crump (from The Andy Griffith Show), and that reminds her that the bit about friend Helen is coming up. 

Especially with a show such as this, Stringer said acting is a lot about the characterization, about becoming that person for a little while. For this show, it’s been a chance to take a look inside herself as well. 

“I’m not the writer, so to me, where she comes up with these things, it’s hard for me to imagine where they come from, but I think about how sad it was, because she could have been going places,” Stringer said. “The things that makes her life a little tragic, that made her stay home, made her so good. She was so isolated, so when she looked at a snake or a flower or a bee, she really looked at it and thought about it. I’m a hurry, rush around person and she was not like that.”