A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE
And the Sea Shall Give Up Its Dead
10 Minute Play, Drama / 1w, 2m
This short play, set on Judgment Day in the swirling waters of the Atlantic abyss, is part of Thornton Wilder's Playlets: Short, Short Plays for 3-5 Persons.
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Cast Size
1w, 2m -
Duration
10 minutes -
Target Audience
Appropriate for All Audiences
Details
Summary
“Atlantic abyss... The clangor of Judgment Day’s last trumpet dies away in the remotest pockets of space...”
Judgment Day is upon the world! As the moment of utter extinction arrives, three characters are swaying in the waters deep in the Atlantic. Although long dead, they are still wrestling with earthly identities and passions. What a crew! — An Empress of Newfoundland, a theatre producer, and a Christian priest. How will it end for this curious bunch?
This work, written in 1923, is one of only four Wilder playlets composed after he graduated from college. The title is drawn from Revelations 20:13. “And the sea gave up the dead in it…and all were judged by what they had done.” One critic, Donald Haberman, sees hints of Our Town here in the fact that the characters are “slowly liberating” their minds from “the prides and prejudices and trivialities of a lifetime.”
This short play is included in the collection Thornton Wilder's Playlets: Short, Short Plays for 3-5 Persons.
History
Keywords
Performing Groups
- Time Period Contemporary, Present Day
- Setting Atlantic abyss.
- Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes
- Duration 10 minutes
- Cautions
- No Special Cautions
Media
Videos
Thornton Wilder: It's Time
Licensing & Materials
- Minimum Fee: £40 per performance plus VAT when applicable.
Authors
Thornton Wilder
Thornton Wilder (1897-1975), born in Madison, Wisconsin, and educated at Yale and Princeton, was an accomplished novelist and playwright whose works explore the connection between the commonplace and the cosmic dimensions of human experience. The Bridge of San Luis Rey, one ...