The Work: Plays

Sullied Hand

1981, (One act play - 3m 3w)

Synopsis:

Three couples gather for dinner in the home of one of them. MALCOLM, the husband host, a desperate writer, has a brainwave for making a fortune.

Demonstrating his 'brainwave' involves each of the guests enacting - to the deep consternation of LYNN, his wife - a compromising private action.

Sad and funny.

Excerpt:

"DREAMER! I've heard them before. These plans. I have heard them. Before! Up to here! A machine to press the slimy remnants of soap into new bars. An electric motor to re-sharpen old razor blades. A thumbscrew for squeezing out the last of the toothpaste. All those best laid schemes and dreams and calculations, those wild speculations, those demented hopes, those madman's addings and multiplications, those pathetic promises, those paper riches. Paper riches! Paper riches!"