The Return of Herbert Bracewell

The Return of Herbert Bracewell or Why Am I Always Alone When I’m with You?, Andrew Johns’s nostalgic tale of an aged actor planning his comeback with his three companions, begins early in the 20th century when Herbert Bracewell retires to the attic of his New York home with plans to stage a one-man review of his long, if undistinguished career. He begins to ad-lib ideas for his show, straining to pull down dusty manuscripts from atop overflowing shelves of vintage souvenirs, using Homer, a stunt double, as a co-star, and conferring often with his pet, a stuffed crow. Florence, twenty years his junior and a once-successful actress, comes to join him to toast the new year, and becomes caught up in his production plans, first with good-humored derision, then with the suggestion that she join him in the comeback attempt.