Beyond the Horizon

About the show

Act I Robert Mayo is sitting on the fence line of his family's farm, contemplating the horizon. He has dreamed of leaving the farm and travelling so he wouldn't live in one place. The next morning, Robert will sail with his maternal uncle, Captain Dick Scott, on the Sunda to visit the foreign places he has only dreamed and read about. Robert's elder brother, Andrew, wants to stay on the farm and keep working on it. Andrew is engaged to Ruth Atkins, a woman Robert has been in love with. On the eve of Robert's departure, he confesses his feelings to Ruth and she reveals that she also loves him and had only agreed to marry Andrew out of the mistaken belief Robert doesn't love her back. Robert decides to stay on the farm and marry Ruth. Upset over losing Ruth to Robert, Andrew hastily chooses to join his uncle. The family patriarch, James Mayo, persuades Andrew to stay. But Andrew still leaves with Captain Scott yet harbors no ill will to Robert. Act II Two years after his oldest son left to travel the world, Mr. Mayo dies. When another year passes, life on the Mayo family's farm has deteriorated due to Robert lacking the farming skills his brother has. Robert's mother, Kate Mayo, says Robert cannot help the deterioration, but his mother-in-law, Mrs. Atkins, retorts that all his hard work has yielded nothing. In the three years, Ruth discovers that all that charmed her about her husband no longer holds the same allure and their daughter, Mary, is as irritable and sickly as he was in his own youth. Ruth insists to Robert that she should have seen his "true self" and killed herself before they had married. This revelation embitters Robert and he continues to let the farm deteriorate. The Mayo family hopes for Andrew's homecoming. Having finished his three-year apprenticeship on the Sunda, Andrew wants to help, but has lost his money on ill-advised land speculation and must travel to Argentina to recoup his losses. He promises to return and restore the farm to its former glory. Ruth pleads with Andrew to stay, but he leaves on the first available ship to South America. Act III Five years pass by, and both Mrs. Mayo and Mary have died. The farm has been ruined and Robert himself is seriously ill from tuberculosis. Andrew returns poor again due to illegitimate trading and he brings a doctor to Robert, but the disease has become terminal. Now a broken man, Robert drags himself to the fence line one last time so he can observe the horizon and imagine the travels he would never experience.