In many of his plays, characters are "riding a fault line, about to make a change which may result in tragedy",[1] sharing an "evocative, somewhat taboo recollection of their common past".
The title of the play refers to a black, luminous glaze used by artists such as J. M. W. Turner, that was made from the ash of cremated mummies.
[3] Visions of life and death of an Egyptian Princess form alternating scenes, and, as she is being prepared for mummification, towards the end of the play when a Turner painting is displayed, it becomes clear that she is on it.
It premiered in Chicago followed by productions in New York at Playwrights Horizons, in London at The King's Head Theatre, at the Edinburgh Festival, at Hartford Stage starring Joel Grey, and in many cities throughout North America.
From 2007 to 2009 it toured Williamstown Theater Festival, McCarter Theatre (Princeton, NJ) and the La Jolla Playhouse (CA) in a production starring BD Wong, directed by Roger Rees.