{"id":89826,"date":"2026-09-10T14:47:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T21:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/?p=89826"},"modified":"2026-09-10T15:52:31","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T22:52:31","slug":"bembridge-house-teatime-one-act-plays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/eat-see-do-2\/see\/bembridge-house-teatime-one-act-plays","title":{"rendered":"Historic Bembridge House hosts a teatime trio of one-act plays"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
A sneak peek of “Tea with ‘Riders to the Sea & Some Silly Acts for Thee'” at the Bembridge House, Sept. 10-20. Photo courtesy of Michael Taber.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to Theater News, a regular column by longtime reviewer Anita W. Harris. Look for it most Thursdays. Or sign up<\/a> for our Eat. See. Do. newsletter to get it in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you caught \u201cTea with Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice<\/a>\u201d at The Bembridge House<\/a> this past May, you may recall a delightful tea service followed by an abridged version of Shakespeare\u2019s play set throughout the historic Queen Anne-style Victorian home.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same team is staging another immersive theatrical experience at the 120-year-old house beginning this weekend, along with a full tea service complete with scones, finger sandwiches and tartlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There’s no Shakespeare this time, rather a set of three, one-act plays featuring mostly women called “Riders to the Sea & Some Silly Acts for Thee.” Each play is staged in a different part of the home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis show of three distinct one-acts connects three very different generations and lifestyles all dealing with common themes of survival, family, traditions, property, grief, death and perhaps a little something extra,\u201d said Michael Taber, the show\u2019s producer and director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first mini-play \u2014 staged in front of the home as the audience sips tea under shade trees \u2014 is \u201cRiders to the Sea,\u201d a tragic play by Irish playwright J.M. Synge set on the remote Isle of Inishmaan in the 1890s, about a mother and her two daughters losing all the men in their lives to the ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“Riders to the Sea,” a one-act play by J.M. Synge is a tragedy that takes place in the 1890s on a remote island off the west coast of Ireland. Photo courtesy of Michael Taber.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Taber describes it as an \u201cearthy and turbulent\u201d story that\u2019s \u201cfilled with the essence of a Celtic people known for their superstitions and foresight, intertwined with the Catholic beliefs imposed upon them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Audiences then go inside the home to be teleported to 1920s England for Pat Wilson\u2019s dark comedy \u201cA Funeral Tea,\u201d in which a caterer finds herself serving tea after a cremation \u2014 except the urn with ashes is missing, and the tea tastes rather strange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho knew [the deceased] Jacob Starkie and who is attending out of obligation or pure entertainment?\u201d Taber describes. \u201cBe prepared to drink the tea and immerse yourself in the absurdity of a reception like no other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, audiences can enjoy the Bembridge backyard while experiencing the final one-act play, A.F. Groff\u2019s ironic comedy \u201cNot My Cup of Tea,\u201d set in the 1960s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTwo sisters try to come up with the most efficient way to put their sweet, darling mother out of her misery,\u201d Taber describes. \u201cWill they succeed, and how will dear mother take it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The concept of staging three one-acts was inspired by the film \u201cThe Hours,\u201d Taber said, in which stories with women from three different eras are woven into a single narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThree different stories are told in different time periods,\u201d he said of the  Bembridge House plays. \u201cYet all have a throughline dealing with death and the rules and roles society has placed on women in and around it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, in the worlds of these plays, the elderly leave belongings to their sons. Only this time, it is the young men who leave the old behind, Taber said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“Not My Cup of Tea,” a comedic one-act play by A.F. Groff is set in the 1960s and will be performed in the backyard of Bembridge House. Photo courtesy of Michael Taber.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to direct the pieces as rooted in the reality of the various time periods with extremely high stakes to give audiences a chance to be transported to another perspective of living, with an edge of dark humor,\u201d Taber said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taber himself joins his troupe of five actresses collectively called The Unscene Players \u2014 Elena Johnson, Hannah McMullen, Marge Packman, Chelsea Sykes and Catalina Tan \u2014 in bringing these three stories to life.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy hope is that through the contrast of costumes, props and language, audiences will get the feeling of time-traveling while also gaining insight through the vignettes and their characters,\u201d Taber said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTea with \u2018Riders to the Sea & Some Silly Acts for Thee\u2019\u201d runs Sept. 10 to 20, with lower-priced evening-tea shows Thursdays at 7 p.m. and afternoon tea-service shows on Saturdays and Sundays at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., at The Bembridge House, 953 N. Park Circle, Long Beach. For tickets and information, visit<\/em> TheBembridgeHouse.org<\/em><\/a>. Run time is two hours<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The team behind \u201cTea with Shakespeare\u201d is performing a set of female-forward one-act plays at the Bembridge House in Long Beach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29035,"featured_media":89828,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"hidden","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"The team behind \u201cTea with Shakespeare\u201d is performing a set of female-forward one-act plays at the Bembridge House in Long Beach.","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32366],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32310],"class_list":["post-89826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-see","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29035"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89826"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89838,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89826\/revisions\/89838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89826"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=89826"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=89826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}