Guest by Courtesy

Salvage Vanguard Theater, Austin

About the Show

Women have always been the keepers of proper behavior. The moment they deviate from their own dictates, they are dismissed as crazy. Etiquette and sanity separate the Haves from the Have Nots.
Guest by Courtesy is the story of two cousins. One is married, wealthy, and fancy; the other is single, poor, and drab. We find these cousins waging their bizarre relationship over the course of a failing tea party. They are not anchored in time, in space, or even in age. The cousins are little girls, society women, bitter rivals, and friends.

Shuttling between high physicality, archetypal characters, and sheer vulgarity, Guest by Courtesy possesses some kinship with theatrical clowning – portraying simple characters who possess love and heartbreak beyond their own comprehension.

Will these women, hovering at the edge of sanity, go crazy in the end or will they manage to set the world on its head?