Synopsis

Still Life

$13

Emily Mann

Published by Dramatists Play Service

1 Male 2 Female

Shaped by the author from conversations with the people whose experience she sets forth, the play explores the way that Vietnam has affected three lives: a Marine veteran, his estranged wife and his mistress

Seated at a table, with slides used occasionally to amplify and illustrate their comments, the three tell their various stories. The man confesses that he killed a Vietnamese family in cold blood and, carrying the seeds of violence with him, returned home to brutalize his pregnant wife

The wife, disillusioned and unhappy, wants to ignore the terrors that haunt her husband, believing that in time the awful memories will fade, while the mistress, an angry feminist, blames the man's destructiveness on the forces that conditioned him before he went to Vietnam

In the end, these three become a metaphor for the nation as a whole-still trying to understand, and overcome, the lingering trauma that is the bitter legacy of the Vietnam experience

Winner of the Obie Award

A compelling, harrowing, and ultimately moving documentary drama, "created from the words of real persons," which explores and illuminates the nightmare of Vietnam and its cruel aftermath

" a theatrical experience that is often shattering." ~ The Hollywood Reporter

" a gripping drama, strikingly and effectively staged, compelling and moving" ~ Chicago Sun-Times

" a searing account of the lingering aftermath of the Vietnam War" ~ NY Times

Browse Library

About Stageplays

Stageplays offers you the largest collection of Plays & Musicals in the world.

Based in the UK and the USA, we’ve been serving the online theatre community since the last century. We’re primarily a family-run business and several of us also work in professional theatre.

But we’re all passionate about theatre and we all work hard to share that passion with you and the world’s online community.

Subscribe to our theatre newsletter

We'll email you regular details of new plays and half-price special offers on a broad range of theatre titles.

Shipping

We can deliver any play in print to any country in the world - and we ship from both the US and the UK.

© 2010 - 2024 Stageplays, Inc.