Overview
Two men, one in his late-forties, the other twenty years older, meet in the waiting room of a New England state mental health facility only to discover that they have done business together in the past. Inside the facility, each of their wives recovers from a nervous breakdown. Leroy Hamilton, a descendent of founding father, Alexander Hamilton, has spent his life as a highly skilled carpenter. His wife, Patricia, the daughter of Swedish immigrants and herself the mother of seven children, cannot reconcile what she considers to be Hamilton's deliberate under-achievement with her own family's grasping attempts at assimilation and affluence. Purposefully foregoing her anti-depression medication for a number of weeks, Patricia has begun to display a new clarity of thought that promises to shatter irrevocably the status quo of her life with Hamilton. The older, more affluent couple, share an equally tense marriage despite their prosperity. Karen Frick, though, has gone farther down the path of no-recovery than even the more frequently hospitalized Patricia. As roommates, Karen and Patricia have been sharing stories about their husbands—and the final meeting between them all, demonstrates the price and rewards of even strained marriages.Synopsis
Two men, one in his late-forties, the other twenty years older, meet in the waiting room of a New England state mental health facility only to discover that they have done business together in the past. Inside the facility, each of their wives recovers from a nervous breakdown. Leroy Hamilton, a descendent of founding father, Alexander Hamilton, has spent his life as a highly skilled carpenter. His wife, Patricia, the daughter of Swedish immigrants and herself the mother of seven children, cannot reconcile what she considers to be Hamilton's deliberate under-achievement with her own family's grasping attempts at assimilation and affluence. Purposefully foregoing her anti-depression medication for a number of weeks, Patricia has begun to display a new clarity of thought that promises to shatter irrevocably the status quo of her life with Hamilton. The older, more affluent couple, share an equally tense marriage despite their prosperity. Karen Frick, though, has gone farther down the path of no-recovery than even the more frequently hospitalized Patricia. As roommates, Karen and Patricia have been sharing stories about their husbands and the final meeting between them all, demonstrates the price and rewards of even strained marriages.
NY Post
...a quiet, imploding depth charge of emotion...Tautly pertinent...unlike anything else Miller has so far shown us. This is what theatre is all about.