Songs from Bedlam

Shot of the newest Firehouse Theatre poster, Songs from Bedlam.

"The play Songs from Bedlam takes its name from Bethlehem Hospital, which in 1547 became London's main hospital for the mentally ill. Its name was soon shortened to "Bedlam," which also came to mean the antics of its inmates. For a modest sum, Elizabethans could visit the hospital and watch the "Lunatickes" at Bedlam. Like the exotic animals in the Tower of London, the mentally ill were on display."

-Douglas Jones, director