alphabetical author index

Lovers and Executioners

  • John Strand
  • Full Length Play, Comedy, Drama, Contemporary
  • 4M, 3F
  • ISBN: L98

"This is one you shouldn't miss...a terrific night (or matinee) at the theatre."

Cincinnati Inquirer

  • Full Length Play
  • Comedy, Drama
  • 180 minutes

  • Time Period: Contemporary
  • Target Audience: Adult
  • Set Requirements: Unit Set/Multiple Settings

  • Performance Group:
  • Community Theatre, College Theatre / Student

  • Accolades:
  • Winner! 1999 Winner of The Helen Hayes Award: The Charles MacArthur Prize for Outstanding New Play
This startlingly modern tale about attempted murder and a woman's revenge concerns a husband who discovers evidence that his wife has been unfaithful.

He abandons her on a desert isle, expecting her to die. But she escapes and returns three years later disguised as a man. She manages to have herself appointed judge and promptly brings her husband to trial for the murder of his wife. Calling the play "funny, grim, superb" the Washington Post wrote: "Strand's very free adaptation is like the best comedy, wild yet precise. He's dared to translate Montfleury's 17th-century poetry into 20th-century verse, and the language rollicks along from comic anachronism to melancholy aphorism."

Keeping certain conventions of the genre, such as the commedia dell'arte-inspired comedy, the play focuses on the very serious questions of justice and revenge. It features a superb leading-actress breeches role and a coup de theatre ending. "Darkly hilarious, brightly poetic and emotionally scary," said Washington City Paper. "It's easy to imagine Lovers and Executioners having a long life on the repertory circuit in this country and Britain."

REVIEWS:

"This is one you shouldn't miss... a terrific night (or matinee) at the theatre."

Cincinnati Inquirer

"You can't ask for more than an evening in which you laugh like mad, then sit on the edge of your seat wondering how the tale will turn out."

The Washington Post

  • Casting: 4M, 3F

Name Price
Lovers and Executioners Script Order Now

This startlingly modern tale about attempted murder and a woman's revenge concerns a husband who discovers evidence that his wife has been unfaithful. He abandons her on a desert isle, expecting her to die. But she escapes and returns three years later disguised as a man. She manages to have herself appointed judge and promptly brings her husband to trial for the murder of his wife. Calling the play funny, grim, superb the Washington Post wrote: Strand's very free adaptation is like the best comedy, wild yet precise. He's dared to translate Montfleury's 17th-century poetry into 20th-century verse, and the language rollicks along from comic anachronism to melancholy aphorism. Keeping certain conventions of the genre, such as the commedia dell'arte-inspired comedy, the play focuses on the very serious questions of justice and revenge. It features a superb leading-actress breeches role and a coup de th''tre ending. Darkly hilarious, brightly poetic and emotionally scary, said Washington City Paper. It's easy to imagine Lovers and Executioners having a long life on the repertory circuit in this country and Britain. Single set, two locations.

$19.95