[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of Celeste Walker’s solo show “Ghosted.”
It’s no secret that I am a huge fan of solo plays. I am drawn to their authenticity, their originality, and the candor of their creators. I am also amazed at the incredibly wide spectrum of subject, center and exploration of the human heart. It’s not just stories about people’s lives, it’s what stories in these people’s lives they have chosen to share with us that fascinates. It’s always something meaningful enough that, to them, their lives have continued to revolve it. Something in the past, something that has stayed a powerful pivotal moment and that continues to have a hold over them, in ways good and bad yes, but in powerful deeply meaningful ways. And that is well worth sharing.
“Ghosted” is about falling in love…the hard way. Celeste was a young woman when she met Drew and fell hard. They had a long love affair, but he was married with a young family and they broke up suddenly when his wife found out. Months later he came back to her and then it was over once more and she never heard from him. Broken twice then. Oh how familiar this story is to me. A young, clever, lovely woman with low self esteem, dreaming of a life she could never really have. Living for a shadow of someone else. Hiding herself for the sake of another. It’s a universal story and yet one told in unique and compelling ways. Using characters from the hotel they both worked at, an old city hotel that had seen some things in the hundred-plus years of its existence that’s for sure and because of this, the history, the tragedy, the sheer about of life lived in it, the place had ghosts. Echos of memories and pain and pleasure absorbed into the very walls. This is where the guides that Celeste met come from and they did their best to help Celeste through the beginning, the middle, and the very end of this story.
This is a beautiful, beautiful poetically thoughtful play. Full of nuance and memory and deeply felt and re-felt emotions and returned to moments that truly mattered in life.
Celeste fell deeply in love and it didn’t work out. This happens. I’m sure it has happened to you. It has certainly happened to me. When we are young we think love is the end point, the high bar, the goal of all our lives. And it is. And also it isn’t. But it does change us. It molds us and scars us, and it forms us and for all those reasons it is worth noting, worth repeating and repeating the story of it. For heaven’s sake, without heartbreak there would be no art…would there!?
Celeste has finally found herself after all these years, she has let go of her ghosts, although unsurprisingly it took her a while. The deeper the soul the deeper the love and the harder to shake it. But now, finally, she can tell this story, after so long and after she has found the love she always needed. True love. The love she has for herself. Her own fabulous, brilliant, shining self. As women of a similar age to Celeste, I can empathise with her lack of need to find a partner now. Feeling content with oneself is a gift. Having a life you love and a place in this universe where you feel safe and cherished and at home is everything really. And who needs a man for that? What we need is love. That is all. I think “Ghosted” at its core is about love. All the wonderful vivid characters love Celeste. The ghosts, the hotel, the interlopers from the hotel’s heyday. They are all there to care for her. To guide her and to keep her safe. It’s the man who lives and breaths that caused her harm in the end. Not the dead ones.
I loved this play and what a gorgeous performance by this warm, wise, sexy woman. Engaging everyone, connecting, mesmerizing and holding the audience in the palm of her hand while she unwound this sad and funny, tragic and inspiring tale. I really hope you get the chance to see Celeste Walker’s “Ghosted.”
You can find out more about Celeste Walker and her beautifully written and performed “Ghosted” and everything else she is up to here: https://www.celestewalker.com/