The Skin of Our Teeth: A Play (Perennial Classics) (Paperback)

by Thornton Wilder (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A timeless statement about human foibles . . . and human endurance, this beautiful new edition features Wilder's unpublished production notes, diary entries, and other illuminating documentary material, all of which is included in a new Afterword by Tappan Wilder.

Time magazine called The Skin of Our Teeth "a sort of Hellzapoppin' with brains," as it broke from established theatrical conventions and walked off with the 1943 Pulitzer Prize for Best Drama. Combining farce, burlesque, and satire (among other styles), Thornton Wilder departs from his studied use of nostalgia and sentiment in Our Town to have an Eternal Family narrowly escape one disaster after another, from ancient times to the present. Meet George and Maggie Antrobus (married only 5,000 years); their two children, Gladys and Henry (perfect in every way!); and their maid, Sabina (the ageless vamp) as they overcome ice, flood, and war -- by the skin of their teeth.

About the Author
Thornton Wilder (1897–1975) is an accomplished novelist and playwright whose works, exploring the connection between the commonplace and cosmic dimensions of human experience, continue to be read and produced around the world. His Bridge of San Luis Rey, one of seven novels, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, as did two of his four full-length dramas, Our Town (1938) and The Skin of Our Teeth (1943). Wilder's Matchmaker was adapted as the musical Hello, Dolly! He also enjoyed enormous success with many other forms of the written and spoken word, among them teaching, acting, opera, and film. His screenplay for Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943) remains a classic psychological thriller to this day. Wilder's many honors include the Gold Medal for Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the National Book Committee's Medal for Literature.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics (April 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060088931
• ISBN-13: 978-0060088934
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,855 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The end of this play isn't written yet.", February 7, 2005

By	Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

Ignoring the conventions of time, this playful "message play" follows one family from the days of the glaciers and dinosaurs to a post-apocalyptic, modern world. George Antrobus, the inventor of the wheel, and Maggie, his wife, the inventor of the apron, have two children, Gladys and Henry (whose previous name was Cain). The bossy father, domestic and subservient mother, aggressive and dangerous son, and innocent daughter interact, often humorously, onstage and are also seen through the viewpoint of Sabina, the flirtatious maid. As the play progresses through the eras, Wilder raises questions about civilization and values. George, by Act II, is convinced that the world is made for pleasure and power, but by the final act, after a world cataclysm, the family confronts what is truly important in their lives.

A pet dinosaur and a wooly mammoth, the Boardwalk of New Jersey and the Miss America contest, the fraternal Order of Mammals (of which George is President), and the attempted seduction of George and his fellow Mammals by predatory women all add to the visual appeal of this production. Though the play pretends to be traditional in its dramatic structure, it takes liberties with the audience as the various actors step out of character to address the audience, as does the director. At one point Sabina refuses to play a scene, summarizing it for the audience as the director and George plead with her.

First produced in 1942, the play reflects Wilder's fear that the war then engulfing the world might truly be a war for the future of civilization. His conclusion, which highlights the values of western philosophers, such as Spinoza, Aristotle, and Plato, also reflects his religious beliefs and his belief in the enduring values of (western) literature. "We've come a long way--we're learning," he says, hopefully, but he also reminds us that "the end of this play isn't written yet." Creative and original in its day, the play represents a major moment in American theater. Less innovative now, more than sixty years later, it still offers food for thought in its reminder of enduring values and its questions about what we value and would save from our own lives in a similar cataclysm. Mary Whipple

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Groundbreaking Classic: A Comic Collage Of Catastrophe And Endurance, September 29, 2007

By	Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Ecological disaster? Pervasive human folly? World War? The end of the world itself? According to Thornton Wilder, we've been there and done that so many times that we should have learned a thing or two about it by now. First performed in the darkest days of World War II, THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH is a highly theatrical, bizarrely comic take on the disasters that befall the human race--and a commentary on the durability of the human spirit.

The play presents us with the perfect American family: father, mother, son, daughter, and a housemaid, all living in middleclass comfort in Excelsior, New Jersey. They dress in modern attire, more or less; they speak in modern terms, more or less; and the world in which they live contains such modern details as telegrams and such. But it is also the middle of the prehistoric ice-age and the glaciers are moving in to crush them all. The end of the world is at hand!

Ice age? Yes indeed, and as the play progresses Thornton Wilder drags the Antrobus family through one clamity after another. From ice to infidelity and from infidelity to Noah's flood--it's one damned thing after another, right up to and including global war. There are so many disasters that the actors playing the roles begin to question the whole thing, arguing with each other about the merits of the play, what it means, whether or not it is worth performing--and then suddenly, to their horror, face their own disaster when a large portion of the cast is rushed to the hospital due to food poisoning! Can the cast finish the performance? Can mankind survive?

In its own time THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH broke so much new theatrical ground that it easily walked off with the Pulitzer Prize for Drama: it is highly mannered, extremely theatrical, proto-absurdist, and borrows from such diverse sources as the Bible and James Joyce to create a wildly spinning construct that seems constantly on the verge of flying apart--but never actually does. And it always seems to enjoy a resurgence in popularity whenever the world faces a prolonged period of bad news. Because, as Wilder points out, we've actually done all this before many, many times. And we're still here to tell the tale.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars All too human, March 15, 2006

By	P. Knox - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a strange play. The political satire is timeless. However, I did not read it for enjoyment. I read it to help me to understand it a little more before I saw it adapted in a German theater is Saarbruchen. The little acting company was excellent and I enjoyed the play in its updated version.