SAG-AFTRA ✦ AEA
Jul 17, 2022
In a special excerpt from the international podcast “Sounds from Scotland,” host Sam spotlights American artists traveling “East to Edinburgh” for the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Among them are Ashley Ford, performer and creator of the one-woman show The Ecstasy of Victoria Woodhull, and Theo Salter, the playwright behind the production. The two join the program to discuss their New York run with 59E59 Theaters and their upcoming month-long engagement in Scotland.
A Modern Séance with a Forgotten Feminist Icon
The interview opens with an introduction to the show itself—a solo performance centered on Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for President of the United States in 1872, nearly 50 years before women could legally vote. Woodhull’s life was a tapestry of contradictions: a suffragette, a target of scandal, a spiritualist, an advocate of free love, and a woman both celebrated and shunned by her contemporaries. Ashley describes the show as part history, part magic, part theatrical ritual:
“We do the play as a séance… we invite the audience into the world of a modern budding clairvoyant attempting her first séance to summon Victoria Woodhull herself.”
The result is an immersive, lightly interactive experience that blends fact, spiritualism, and theatricality to reintroduce a woman history tried hard to forget.
Performing Herstory: How the Play Came to Life
When Ashley first approached Theo about writing the piece, she gave him two words to set the tone: “modern” and “magical.” Despite its historical roots, the aim was always to create something timeless—something that speaks as urgently to the present as it does to the past.
The story’s lesser-known aspects also take center stage: Woodhull’s childhood as a clairvoyant peddled by her snake-oil-salesman father, her rise through the spiritualist movement, and her complicated relationship with the suffrage leaders of her day.
As Ashley puts it:
“People don’t know about her because she was too outrageous, too scandalous for the other suffragettes… and they disassociated themselves.”
From New York to Scotland: The Journey to Fringe
Ashley and Theo speak with palpable excitement about bringing the show overseas. After its July run with 59E59 Theater’s East to Edinburgh program—including additional performances in Sag Harbor—the production heads to Scotland for the world’s largest arts festival.
For Ashley, performing at the Edinburgh Fringe has been a dream for years:
“I’m excited to share her story with a larger audience… and I’m so curious how UK audiences will receive it.”
Theo echoes the anticipation from a writer’s perspective. The team reworked aspects of the script to ensure it resonated with an international audience, keeping its emotional core universal while staying true to Woodhull’s uniquely American story.
They’re also looking forward to the whirlwind of Fringe itself—3,000+ shows, a global artistic community, and the creative chaos that defines the festival. One highlight? Their plan to transform flyering into theatre:
The team will be handing out custom-designed Victoria Woodhull tarot cards—part marketing, part performance art.
Bringing Victoria Home
Interestingly, Woodhull spent the final chapter of her life in the United Kingdom, where she became an advocate for education and even ran a school. The idea of performing her story on Scottish soil feels full-circle for Ashley and Theo.
“It feels like bringing her home.”
Their hope is that audiences—American, British, and international—leave inspired not just by Woodhull’s boldness, but by the larger story of forgotten women who shaped history.
See the Show / Learn More
The Ecstasy of Victoria Woodhull
New York Run: 59E59 Theaters, July 17–31, 2022
Sag Harbor Dates: July 23–24, 2022
Edinburgh Fringe Festival: August 2022
More details and ticket information are available on the show’s official website:
Watch the Full Episode
To hear the full discussion—including behind-the-scenes insights, the creative inspiration behind the séance structure, and Ashley and Theo’s excitement for Fringe—listen to the Ashley's full interview in this exciting episode of “Sounds from Scotland.”