Who’s Afraid of “Mrs. Dalloway”? Not Playwright Lindsay Joelle

The prismatic stream-of-consciousness narrative style of Virginia Woolf’s groundbreaking 1925 novel Mrs. Dalloway has not made it easy to adapt for the stage. In the book, there’s a fluidity between the present and past of Clarissa, the titular upper class London hostess. In the fetching new play Dalloway: First Love — getting its rolling world premiere launch this summer — playwright Lindsay Joelle avoids the challenge of strict literal adaptation and embraces only the past, giving us a prequel. Meet teenage Clarissa Parry.

“I revisited the novel when it became public domain — [when] the copyright expired, opening the door for adaptations — and my immediate sense was that hopping back and forth between snippets of memory and in-the-moment stream-of-consciousness works for a novel, but it’s a lousy structure for a stage play,” Joelle told me. “Some writers pull it off, but to me, knowing how something turns out in the future takes away the stakes of the past. So I decided to flesh out what happened when all the characters were 18 and horny.”

She added, “I like writing coming-of-age stories about young people because I think the stakes of love and friendship and finding your voice and autonomy feel higher at 18 than they ever will again.”

I had the pleasure of seeing a staged reading of this charmer (then called Dalloway: Summer at Bourton, named for her father’s manse) when Lindsay and I were among playwrights in Florida Repertory Theatre’s 2025 PlayLab. The imagined origin story of Mrs. Dalloway was frisky, funny and touching. It’s sure to attract a wide range of theatergoers — intergenerational literary nerds, young adult audiences, and those of us beyond our twenties eager to be flung back to the time when we were in love for the first time.

The first of three National New Play Network (NNPN) rolling world premiere productions plays Aug. 13-29 at Gloucester Stage in Gloucester, MA, followed by two separate 2027 productions to be announced. Each will share the world premiere designation. Gloucester Stage artistic director Rebecca Bradshaw directs the New England production.

Here’s how Dalloway: First Love is billed: “Clarissa is a tree-climbing, free-spirited Victorian teenager with no interest in entertaining the slew of suitors found by her money-strapped father. But when she unexpectedly falls for a charismatic and plucky suffragette, she must decide if her heart is brave enough to forge a new path. A stand-alone rom-com prequel to Virginia Woolf’s beloved Mrs. Dalloway.”

In the days leading up to Massachusetts rehearsals, Lindsay Joelle answered a handful of questions about the Dalloway: First Love.

For newcomers, can you briefly share a snapshot of the novel Mrs. Dalloway?

Lindsay Joelle: Sure. Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway captures one day in June 1923 as an upper-class housewife named Clarissa Dalloway prepares to host a party. Simultaneously, it enters the mind of her long-lost situationship, Peter, who’s returned from India and may or may not come to her party. Also, we’re in the brain of a shell-shocked World War I veteran battling madness, his immigrant wife who makes hats, and the thoughts and memories of a dozen other folks experiencing the same summer day in London.

What was your relationship to the famous stream-of-consciousness novel? When did you first encounter it? How did it strike you?

Lindsay Joelle: I have two copies of Mrs. Dalloway. The first I read in high school AP English, the second in college Brit Lit. And it’s really interesting comparing the marginalia. In high school, I picked up on all kinds of symbolism, metaphor, and historical context that in college I completely glossed over until the professor covered it in the lecture. And the way I realized it was by coming home for spring break and thumbing through my old high school copy. It was actually a strangely terrifying and formative moment that taught me that I was the smartest I’d ever be at 17 and every year after, I’d lose more and more of my marbles. Twenty-something years later, I can confirm this is true.

I have a very basic narrative brain, so the fractured structure of the novel took a lot of getting used to. Did you click into it right away?

Lindsay Joelle: I agree, the fractured structure of the modernist style is challenging if you’re trying to grasp onto narrative plot. I think Woolf wants us to feel unmoored in a sea of imagery, observation, anxiety and memory. As a young person, I remember feeling narratively anchored by Clarissa’s memories — the time she kissed Sally Seton in the garden; the time her friend Peter proposed and she rejected him and he ran away to India. I wanted more of that.

Do we need to know the novel to understand your play? Does it operate independent of the novel? Are there a couple of “Easter egg” references in the play that Woolf fans will be delighted by?

Lindsay Joelle: I know you heard the play when we were both working on pieces at PlayLab at Florida Rep, but I’m not sure you’ve seen the script. In the author notes I wrote for the benefit of future producers: “There is no need for audiences to be familiar with the source material. If they know the book, they may find the Easter eggs hidden throughout the play even more enjoyable. If they haven’t read it, they may be inspired to engage with the novel for the first time. If they are currently reading it, you should sell that school group a crapload of tickets. That’s a Victorian term.”

Your script says these characters can be dressed as 1890 teens, but can sound and act like contemporary young people. Is there room for future directors and designers to also mix and match clothes? Doc Martens and corsets?

Lindsay Joelle: Yes, absolutely! In our design meetings for the world premiere, we’ve been saying this is not a period piece, it’s a work of literature and memory. Victorian clothes were very structured and constrictive, but the women in my play climb trees and ride bicycles and work through questions and complications about mental health and queerness and “passing” in a conservative society that are still, unfortunately, quite modern. So we really want to push against the Importance of Being Earnest strict period-ness of it all, and lean into the universality and timelessness of four unchaperoned teenagers in the country deciding what they want their lives to be. The soundtrack is also very girl-power-pop. If this ever becomes a musical, Chappell Roan should write it with me!

Your play is built for four actors, but I love the playful double casting for one track. Is there room to expand the cast breakdown in the future?

Lindsay Joelle: It’s currently a tight four-person cast, as part of the comedy is that the same actor plays the whole slew of suitors. We call that role The Slew. But I can envision future productions in which the cast is expanded to seven to include more performers, as each suitor’s mini arc is juicy in its own right.

Your play and the novel are separated by more than 30 years of time. Maybe there’s more for you to say about Clarissa as she evolves?

Lindsay Joelle: If it’s a huge hit, I’ll write sequels!

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Lindsay Joelle writes big-hearted comedies about the collision of worldviews, a process fueled by fieldwork with insular communities across America. Published plays include Trayf  (Theater J, Geffen Playhouse, LA Drama Critics Circle nomination for best writing) and The Garbologists (Philadelphia Theatre Company, City Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Theater Alliance, among others). She is the recipient of the Goldberg Award for Graduate Playwriting, Desert Theater League Award for Best Original Writing, and commissions from E.S.T./Sloan Foundation and Audible’s Emerging Playwrights Fund. Her associations include National New Play Network (NNPN), Playwrights Foundation, New Georges, American Theatre Wing (affiliated artist). She is a former Playwright-in-Residence at Curious Theatre, and an alumna of Nashville Rep’s Ingram New Works Lab, Florida Rep’s PlayLab, PlayPenn New Play Conference, Great Plains Theatre Conference, the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop. She earned degrees at Columbia University (BA) and Hunter College (MFA).