Joe Egg [Paperback]

Peter Nichols (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 1994

This brilliantly written, deeply moving play about the problems of a young couple with a spastic daughter-the "Joe Egg" of the title-was described by Ronald Bryden in The Observer (London) as a "remarkable play about a nightmare all women must have dreamed at some time, and most men: living with a child born so hopelessly crippled as to be, as the father in it says brutally, a human parsnip. For all that, it has to be described as a comedy, one of the funniest and most touching I've seen. The bridge between its form and content is a simple but brilliant stroke of theatre. Over the years, the author implies, explaining to others how one lives with such a situation becomes a kind of set party piece. This, savagely exaggerated, is what he has written-a recital, interspersed with jazz, imitations and tap-dances, about life with Joe Egg."

Product Details

• Paperback: 87 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; 2nd edition (January 11, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802151159
• ISBN-13: 978-0802151155
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #806,563 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Day in the Life, November 28, 2009

By 

bongo (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Joe Egg (Paperback)

Bri, a teacher, and his wife Sheila have a daughter with severe disabilities (spastic, multiplegic, cortex damage...) jokingly referred to as Joe Egg. She's ten, in a wheelchair, and can't say much beyond 'Aaaah!'. The play is a day in their life.

It starts off with Bri yelling at his students (in the theatre it's the audience). He comes home, has some tea, tries to interest Sheila in some bedroom activity. Joe is brought home and they playfully tend to her, talking as if she's a different child. It's funny and sad at the same time.

As the day goes along friends and family come over and we get a peek at what life is like for these people. Towards the end of the day Bri has trouble keeping it together and he considers ways of changing his situation.

Side note -
In the beginning of the book it's noted that in the American premiere Albert Finney played Bri. As I read the play I could totally see it. Finney has the right mix of serious and funny to play the character and set the tone for the production.