A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Elective Affinities

Monologues, Dramatic Comedy  /  1w

A one-woman play featuring a witty octogenarian offering a funny and savage portrait of cultured life.

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    1w
  • Duration
    Duration
    30 minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Not Applicable
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades
  • David Adjmi is the 2010 recipient of the Whiting Award for Drama

Details

Summary
Elective Affinities takes the audience into the apartment of Alice, an octogenarian offering a funny and savage portrait of cultured life, promising to initiate a vital discourse about what it means to be civilized.
History
Elective Afftinites was commissioned by the Royal Court Theatre. It was given staged readings by the Royal Court (with Jane Asher, dir. Phyllis Nagy), Lincoln Center & the Pearl Theatre/Wendy Vandenheuvel (both with Marian Seldes) and premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company in October, 2005. 

ALICE HAUPTMANN - A witty, civilized, and highly sophisticated octogenarian.

  • Time Period Contemporary, Present Day, New Millennium/21st Century
  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes
  • Additional Features No Intermission
  • Duration 30 minutes
  • Cautions
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

REVIEWS

“If you’re one of the lucky few whom [Alice Hauptmann] has summoned to tea this month…I strongly urge you to accept.”
- New York Time, Read More

“Adjmi’s playlet is tiny, but its eloquent, perverse core of coolly rationalized cruelty continues to gain mass and weight in my head.” [Four stars]
- Time Out New York, Read More

Elective Affinities belongs to the rarely explored genre of metaphysical theatre…"
- The New Yorker, Read More

Videos

  • ELECTIVE AFFINITIES POST-SHOW CHAT: THE IDEA OF THE UPPER EAST SIDE youtube thumbnail

    ELECTIVE AFFINITIES POST-SHOW CHAT: THE IDEA OF THE UPPER EAST SIDE

  • Elective Affinities: The Politics of the Play youtube thumbnail

    Elective Affinities: The Politics of the Play

  • Elective Affinities: Creative Team Talk youtube thumbnail

    Elective Affinities: Creative Team Talk

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £55 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

Available Formats:

Authors

David Adjmi

David Adjmi was called “virtuosic” by the New York Times and “dazzling” by the NY Observer, and he was named one of the Top Ten in Culture by The New Yorker. His play The Stumble is a commission for Lincoln Center Theatre, and The Blind King (Parts I and II) was developed at ...

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