
A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE
The Fox
Full-Length Play, Drama / 2w, 1m
Allan Miller, D.H. Lawrence
By Allan Miller / Based on the short novel by D.H. Lawrence
A taut suspenseful exploration of gender and power, true to D.H. Lawrence.Image: Ed Krieger
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Cast Size
2w, 1m -
Duration
More than 120 minutes (2 hours) -
Subgenre
Adaptation (Literature) -
Suggested Use
- Scene Work
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Target Audience
Adult, Senior, Teen (Age 14-18)
Accolades
- Nominee: 21 Los Angeles Drama Critics Awards, including playwrighting and adaptation
Details
Summary
The Fox is a drama of three-cornered love set in the austere north of England at the end of WWI. Two young women have been living on a farm, working it as best they can, and wondering if they can survive another harsh winter. A young soldier, who claims to have lived on the farm with his grandfather years earlier, arrives. He kills the fox that has been preying on their livestock and gets their hens laying again, but while putting everything back in order he also begins to come between these two women who have lived and dreamed together for years. The tug of war between these three builds to a primordial battle of wills, sexuality, dominance and finally violence.
Written to be performed with two intermissions, but can also be performed with one.
History
Keywords
- Time Period 1910s/WWI
- Features Period Costumes
- Duration More than 120 minutes (2 hours)
- Cautions
- Mild Adult Themes
Media
“Dramatically charged to the point of explosion… tautly coiled… a magnetic evening.” – The Los Angeles Times
“…a surprise and distinct pleasure to encounter Allan Miller’s evocation of D.H. Lawrence’s novella The Fox…an impassioned tale…an imaginative play, with three vibrantly theatrical characters…In his adaptation, Mr. Miller has captured the isolation and the straining for contact, the environmental bleakness and the turbulence that stirs just beneath the surface. There is a dramatic tension on stage that is quite the equal of the Lawrence story.” – The New York Times
“A muscular dramatization…the play has a powerful central conflict…theatrically exciting emotional fireworks. The tragic ending is a satisfying capper to an absorbing play.” – Variety
“Miller beautifully transfers Lawrence’s verbal imagery to the stage in an engrossing dramatic script.” – Hollywood Reporter
“A work of art…a major theatrical event…worthy of Pulitzer Prize consideration. This is living, vital, pulsing theatre at its best.” – Free Press
“The Fox is about as perfect a theatre work as you’ll ever see. It caroms and rolls with sexual intensity, an air of foreboding and, at its shocking climax, almost unbearable suspense.” – Century City News
“Dramatically charged to the point of explosion…tautly coiled…a magnetic evening. It is a play to argue about, argue with. Every moment in the play is either a question or an answer, and the need to know the final answer grows as we go deeper in. This is the rare adaptation that honors its source while having the guts to depart from it.” – The Los Angeles Times
“Rooted in the taut, naturalistic style of D.H. Lawrence’s novella, Allan Miller’s script for The Fox retains the intensity of feeling, psychological insight and vivid evocation of nature found in the original work.” – Variety
“Well-crafted and unsettling… The Fox explores a host of relevant, palpable themes about love, sexual attraction, fidelity, loyalty, and the ups-and-downs of living a staid, settled, existence. Although the story was written by D.H. Lawrence 91 years ago, Allan Miller’s play adaptation stands the test of time.” – The Easy
Photos
Image: Ed Krieger
Image: Ed Krieger
Image: Ed Krieger
Image: Ed Krieger
Image: Ed Krieger
Licensing & Materials
- Minimum Fee: £55 per performance plus VAT when applicable.