| | Author: | Barbara Lindsay | | EMail: | babzella@babzella.com | | ICWP Member?: | Yes | | Nearest Large City: | Seattle, WA | | Country: | USA | | Play Title: | THE WALKERS | | Runtime: | 91-120 minutes | | Synopsis: | Divorce, rape, murder. Just a typical weekend for the members of a family so much in denial, they can only tell the truth when they sleepwalk. A very dark comedy. Elder daughter Laura has left her husband, Joey, and returned to her family’s decrepit home. At night, she calls Joey, begging him to come and get her, swearing her profound love. However, when Joey arrives the next morning, Laura denies having called him and rejects him coldly. Joey is confused by Laura’s seeming change of heart, but flirtatious younger daughter Fern (at night a terrified, trapped girl) and mother Grace, a twittery flibbertigibbet (at night a wrathful, violent woman) convince him not to give up. Meanwhile, sullen, sarcastic father Boyd (at night a mournful, loving man), driven to distraction by his wife’s empty-headed silliness, makes an unwitting contract with his friend, the sinister Evan, to have Grace killed. Horrified by what he has put in motion, Boyd must now decide whether to pay Evan to commit this murder or find some way to break the agreement. Joey continues to try to break through Laura’s steely resistance, despite Fern’s aggressive attempts to seduce him. But just as he is on the verge of uncovering the mystery of the sleepwalking, Laura delivers her final blow. She claims to have slept with another man. Hurt and saddened, Joey leaves at last. That evening, having raped Fern, Evan shows up at the house to kill the sleeping Grace. Boyd shows unexpected courage, however, and actually manages to deter Evan. Boyd’s new sense of triumph from his victory over Evan is short-lived when the sleepwalking Grace bashes Boyd’s head in with a skillet, killing him. That night, Laura calls Joey again. She trips over Boyd’s body and wakes up, discovering both that her father is dead and that Joey was not lying when he claimed she called him. Several days later, after Boyd’s funeral (with his murder blamed on Evan), Laura decides to go back to Joey, to humbly ask him to forgive her and take her back. Having seen her own truth, she now begins to recognize the deep denial her family has been living in. She confronts Grace to get her to admit that denial, to tell the truth about their lives for once, but Grace’s hold on unreality is too stubborn to shatter. Broken-hearted, but awake at last, Laura goes to Joey, leaving Grace and Fern to act out their pretense of a happy family.
| | Male: | 3 | | Female: | 3 | | Max. Cast: | 6 | | Min. Cast: | 6 | | Media: | Stage | | Genre: | Black Humour | | Theme: | The price of denial is tragically high | | Web Page: | | | First Name: | Barbara | | Last Name: | Lindsay | | Notes: | |
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