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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"People don't care! They don't see. What they want to think they think; what they don't they don't.",
By Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson, in this early play from 1966, creates a mood of high tension through a series of scenes which move back and forth through time. The dialogue between the characters overlaps, cutting from the town gossips to passionate excoriations by the preacher, tender love scenes between two very young teenagers, the heavily sex-laden conversations of café-owner Cora and the young man she hires to work and to share her bed, and the murder "trial" conducted by the preacher, who dominates the town. The play itself lacks a central set but clever directors sometimes take advantage of the visual possibilities by recreating the town's abandoned and dilapidated buildings, the wasteland of the landscape, and the reality of the emptiness. The isolation of Eldritch and the intensity of the daily interactions there add drama and tension, while the lack of chronology keeps the tone of the play impressionistic. The female characters--a flighty young girl anxious to get married, the lusty Cora, and the town gossips--star in this large cast of seventeen characters. The play transcends its 1960s setting, and the contrasts--between the moral bankruptcy of the residents and their churchly commitments, between the town's beliefs about the murder and rape and the reality of these crimes, and between the innocence of young Robert and Eva and the sexual experience of café-owner Cora and her much younger lover--create a dramatic intensity that is rare in modern theatre. n Mary Whipple The Mound Builders: A Play
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"People don't care! They don't see. What they want to think they think; what they don't they don't.",
By
This review is from: The Rimers of Eldritch. (Paperback)
Living in Eldritch, a nearly abandoned Bible Belt town which was formerly a center of coal-mining, the remaining residents are hard-pressed to find much to do, other than to gossip about each other and attend church activities run by the hell-fire-and-damnation preacher. Anyone who is different from the norm is ostracized--a senile old woman, the town derelict living in a shack, the woman who runs a café and who is apparently having an affair with a much younger man. Since "there's nothing for a strong young man in this dead town," the young men who remain ride around in trucks, race cars, and look for easy sex. The murder of the derelict and the attempted rape of an innocent young girl become the events which trigger the "action."
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson, in this early play from 1966, creates high tension throughout the play, which is a series of scenes--almost choral readings--which move back and forth through time and among the characters. Cutting from the town gossips to passionate excoriations by the preacher, tender love scenes between two very young teenagers, and the heavily sex-laden conversations of Cora, the café owner, and the young man she hires to work and to share her bed, the life of the town, or lack of it, is revealed for the viewer. The "trial" following the murder, which is conducted by the preacher, reminds the viewer of the power of one man and the black-and-white values he represents to control and dominate those whose lives hold little hope for the future. The play's large cast and lack of a central set, combined with the lack of chronology, make the production of this play a formidable challenge for a director, but the author's ability to portray the town's justification of even the most outrageous hypocrisies keeps viewers on the edges of their seats. The universality of the themes allows the play to transcend the 1960s setting, and the author's ability to set up contrasts--between the innocence of young Robert and Eva and the experience of café-owner Cora and her lover, between the moral bankruptcy of the residents and their churchly commitments, and between the town's beliefs about the murder and rape and the reality of these crimes--create a dramatic intensity that is rare in modern theatre. Though some of Lanford Wilson's plays may be dated, this one still offers much to ponder for the present day. n Mary Whipple
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What A Play!,
By Sarah (England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Rimers of Eldritch. (Paperback)
The Rimers of Eldritch is an innotive piece of American theatre focused upon the Bible belt culture of the 1960's. Wilson writes about community life with such an edge an audience or reader will never forget the dark atmosphere of life the characters are condemned to.
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