Customer Reviews

The Rimers of Eldritch.

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

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. The young men who remain in Eldritch ride around in trucks, race their cars, and look for easy sex. The attempted rape of an innocent young girl and the murder of a derelict become the events which trigger the "action."

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

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

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.

I'm a theater major and a junior in college. I am usually one who understands Shakespeare, Becket, etc. but this is something I didn't understand. It was painful to get through. While reading it I had to keep refering to the character listing in the beginning of the script, and when it was over I was left wondering what I just read. I would not recommend this to anyone.

I think that's a very interesting thing to happen especially with a play as interestingly written as this. As a previous reviewer put it, much of the play is composed in a nature of chanting chorus of performers, almost impressionistic and cinematic in it's presentation and yet remaining immediate and intimate in feel. I don't look at this film as being about the Bible belt and such, so much as it's about how people judge others in contradiction of what the Bible teaches, they may go to church, but the church should punish those who knowingly gossip. What you get in this play is a preacher who is roundly ignored, people who largely care about rumor because the truth is something they don't want to face, and the beggar being the only one who is truthful and honest about who he is, and they hate him for it (most of them do). The play is set within a certain time-frame so it is dated, but is a great time capsule of that period. As with all of Wilson's plays he always writes about important things, whether it's the themes of the play, or simply the content in trying to accurately evoke a time, or subverting them both with his conventions with time, etc. His plays are a testament to great creativity and morality, this play is one of his best, in my opinion.

This play beautifuly written about a sinister and "un-happening" town called Elderitch illuminates and shows how differen't it is from our society. This town is stuck in an atmosphere that is creepy and insincere. I am currently in the play and being two of the caracters, Lena and Mary. Acting out these two parts really shows the two differen't sides of one town. I love this play and would recomend it to anyone. This play is not for children, it is unforgiving and unseteling, and has some highly rated content and scenes.