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Our Betters

Play · 1917

Our Betters is a comedy play by the British writer Somerset Maugham. Set in Mayfair and a country house in Suffolk, the plot revolves around the interaction between newly wealthy Americans and upper-class British society. It premiered at the Nixon Theatre in Atlantic City, New Jersey before transferring to the Hudson Theatre on Broadway where it ran for 112 performances. It did not premiere in London immediately, but then enjoyed a West End run of 548 performances at the Globe Theatre between 12 September 1923 and 3 January 1925. The London cast included Constance Collier, Ronald Squire (succeeding Yorke Stephens), Reginald Owen, John Stuart, Alfred Drayton, Margaret Bannerman and Martita Hunt.

Our Country's Good

Play · 1988

In the hold of the convict ship Sirius, the convicts witness an (off-stage) flogging and express fear about their future. In Sydney Cove, an unnamed Aboriginal Australian witnesses the arrival of the first fleet. Throughout the play, he comments on the British settlement's effect on the indigenous populations, reacting with curiosity, confusion, and finally fear. Some time after arriving in Sydney, Governor Arthur Philip, Captain David Collins, Captain Watkin Tench, and Midshipman Harry Brewer debate the purpose of prison: should it be to punish or rehabilitate?; and the nature of criminal tendencies: are they innate or acquired? When Tench mentions that the convicts consider hanging to be "entertainment," Philip wonders if they could be offered something else. He suggests that the convicts could stage a play, but nevertheless orders Harry to find a hangman and execute three men who have been convicted of stealing food. After hanging two of the thieves, Harry is plagued by guilt, especially as one of the thieves, Handy Baker, was Harry's rival for the affection of Duckling Smith, a young convict woman. Harry tells Second Lieutenant Ralph Clark about the Governor's idea to have the convicts stage a play and Ralph decides to take this project on, hoping to get the Governor to notice him. Ralph chooses George Farquhar's restoration comedy The Recruiting Officer and holds auditions. Some of the convicts who audition are Meg Long, an aged prostitute; Robert Sideway, a flamboyant pickpocket; the shy Mary Brenham; her more outspoken friend Dabby Bryant; and the hardened criminal Liz Morden. Ralph offers Mary the main female role of Silvia and reluctantly agrees that Dabby can play Rose. Liz Morden is offered the role of Melinda. One evening, the officers discuss theatre, punishment, criminality and morality, and debate the value of Ralph's project. Major Ross, his acolyte Captain Campbell, and the pragmatic Captain Tench express conservative opinions and oppose the play, which is defended vehemently by Philip, Collins and Ralph Clark. Collins conducts a vote and with the majority in favour, Ralph is allowed to start rehearsals. Duckling complains that Harry is always watching her, leaving her no freedom. To appease her, he says that he will let her take part in the play. Dabby and Mary start learning their lines. Mary feels inadequate to play a noble lady, as she is ashamed of having sold herself to a sailor on the ship for food. Dabby argues that Mary was no virgin and that she might otherwise not have survived the voyage. Liz interrupts them and demands to be included, but Dabby becomes resentful when it becomes clear that Liz can't read. Their fight is broken up by James “Ketch” Freeman, the hangman. Freeman visits Ralph in his tent, claims that he is innocent of the murder that got him transported to Australia. He explains why he agreed to take on the office of hangman; having been convicted for stealing food, he was told “hang or be hanged”. He finally begs Ralph for a part in the play. A Jewish convict, John Wisehammer, engages Mary in a conversation about the meanings and sounds of words; she suggests he also take part in the play. At the first rehearsal, two actors, Kable and Arscott, are missing; Sideway overacts, and Liz can't act at all. A convict named Black Caesar arrives and asks to play a servant. The rehearsal is interrupted by Ross and Campbell, who inform Ralph that Cable and Arscott have escaped. Ross arrests Caesar, who initially went with the escapees but came back. He also arrests Wisehammer, because Cable was last seen near Wisehammer's hut; and Liz, accused of helping Cable steal food from the stores. The rehearsal is left in shambles. In prison, Liz tells Wisehammer her life story. Wisehammer protests that he is innocent. Caesar dreams of making another escape attempt and returning to Madagascar. John Arscott, who has been recaptured, desperately cries out that escape is impossible. Sideway, Duckling and Mary arrive in prison so they can continue to rehearse. Ralph tells Philip that, because half of his actors are in prison, he wants to stop the play, but Philip exhorts him to continue trying, making Ralph see the much larger meaning that the play has for the colony. Philip especially advocates for Liz Morden, as he wants to make an example of her – through redemption. In his tent, Harry Brewer sees the ghosts of the two men he hanged, including his rival Handy Baker. He shouts for Duckling, but when she arrives, he cannot trust her, saying that the "ghost" told him that Handy and Duckling had been on the beach together. On Philip's orders, Ross brings Wisehammer, Caesar, and Liz to the second rehearsal. Nobody feels comfortable rehearsing in Ross's presence and Ralph tries to get him to leave. This just infuriates Ross. He starts humiliating the convicts, forcing Sideway to show his flogging scars, Dabby to imitate a dog and Mary to show the tattoo high up on her inner thigh. As the rehearsal continues, Sideway and Liz begin to enter more fully into their parts, boldly using the full length of the room and interacting with the others. The words of the play take a double meaning highly significant to the situation. In response, Ross orders Campbell to flog Arscott as punishment for his escape; the sounds of the flogging and Arscott's cries end the rehearsal. Liz has been sentenced to death for stealing food. Freeman reluctantly measures her for hanging. Harry, who oversees the process, still hears the ghosts of the dead. It becomes clear that Liz did not defend herself at her trial, but just as 'Ketch' and Harry are about to leave, she asks Harry to tell Ralph that she did not steal the food. As they question her as to why she didn't speak up, Harry collapses. As Kable is not back, Ralph has taken over his part in The Recruiting Officer. It is clear by now that Wisehammer and Ralph are rivals for Mary's affection, just as they are for Silvia's in the Farquhar play. Dabby complains that she can't relate to her character, but Wisehammer argues that a play should teach you something new. Arscott remarks that the play allows him to forget about own situation, contrasting with Dabby, who wants to play herself. The arrival of Ketch Freeman ends the rehearsal, as the others refuse to act with a hangman. In Harry Brewer's tent, Duckling promises love and fidelity to Harry, only to discover that he has just died. She collapses. Mary is rehearsing on her own. Ralph joins her. Reciting their lines in the play, they end up confessing their love. Philip, Ross, Collins, Campbell and Ralph discuss Liz Morden one more time. Collins is afraid of a miscarriage of justice, as the evidence against her is flimsy. Liz is given a last chance to defend herself. She finally speaks, saying that she knew Cable wanted to steal the food, but she wasn't present when he did. Collins orders a retrial. Despite her situation, Liz surprises everyone present by politely promising to perform her role in the play. Backstage before the performance, the actors attempt to console Duckling. They also discuss the future: Dabby plans to escape that night; Sideway wants to start a theatre company; Liz and Freeman want to join Sideway's company as actors and Wisehammer as playwright; Mary and Ralph plan their lives together. Caesar is very drunk and suffering from stage fright; only ludicrous threats from his fellow actors convince him to go on stage. Wisehammer reminds Ralph of the prologue he wrote for the play and reads it. Although pleased, Ralph does not dare to use it, because it is too political. The play begins: Arscott and Caesar go onstage while as the rest of the cast listens in trepidation. The first speech of the play is met with tremendous applause.

Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour

Play · 2015

Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour is a play based on the 1998 novel The Sopranos by Alan Warner, adapted for the stage by Lee Hall. It received its world premiere at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in August 2015, before embarking on a short UK tour. The play is a co-production between the National Theatre of Scotland and Live Theatre. The production ran at London's National Theatre in August 2016 and was scheduled to transfer to the West End's Duke of York's Theatre in May 2017. In April 2017, the production won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, for its run at the National Theatre.

Ourselves

Play · 1811

Ourselves is an 1811 comedy play by the British writer Marianne Chambers. It premiered at the Lyceum Theatre in London on 2 March 1811. The Lyceum was at the time hosting the company of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane while it was rebuilt following damage by an 1809 fire. It was Chambers' second staged work following the successful The School for Friends in 1805. The cast included William Dowton as Sir John Rainsford, Benjamin Wrench as Sir Sydney Beaufort, Charles Holland as Fitzaubin, John Henry Johnstone as O'Shanauhan, Vincent De Camp as Darlington, William Penley as Cuff, Maria Rebecca Davison as Miss Beaufort, Julia Glover as the Unknown Lady and Sarah Harlowe as Mrs O'Shanauhan. It was performed sixteen times on its original run.

Out of Bounds

Play · 1962

Out of Bounds is a comedy thriller play by the British writer Arthur Watkyn. It enjoyed a successful run at Wyndham's Theatre in the West End with Michael Redgrave in the lead role of Lancelot Dodd, a naive headmaster who is an exact Doppelgänger of a British spy who has recently died. The West End cast also included Pauline Jameson, Anton Diffring, Graham Armitage, Peter Stephens, Michael Balfour, Michael Bates, Lionel Gamlin and Charles Heslop. It was directed by Harold French.

Out of Order

Play · 1990

Out of Order is a 1990 farce written by English playwright Ray Cooney. It had a long run at the Shaftesbury Theatre starring Donald Sinden and Michael Williams. As with many other Ray Cooney plays, it features a lead actor (in this case a junior UK minister) who has to lie his way out of an embarrassing situation (in this case a planned adultery with a secretary) with the help of an innocent side-kick (in this case the minister's personal private secretary), who gets more and more embroiled in the increasingly tangled tale improvised by the lead character as events unfold. The action takes place in a suite in a posh London hotel and revolves around accidents caused by a defective sash window. In 1996, the play was adapted in France as Panique au Plazza, starring Christian Clavier and Gérard Lartigau. In 1997 the play was made into a successful Hungarian movie A Miniszter Félrelép. The 2019 Italian comedy film Natale a cinque stelle is based on the plot. The play has also been staged internationally in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in April 2012, by the British Theatre Playhouse. Other recent productions have been made in Poland as "Okno na parlament" (Komedia and Och theatres in Warsaw; theatres in Kraków, Wrocław, Gdynia, Szczecin, and Słupsk), at the Moscow Art Theatre in Moscow, Russia under the name "№ 13D", elsewhere in Russia under the name "Two in the Room, Not Counting...", in Beijing, China, and in a Hindi adaptation as "Sweet Suite" in Delhi, India. In 2023, the Mill at Sonning premiered an adaptation by Michael Barfoot, It's Her Turn Now, which changed the lead character into a female MP.

Over My Dead Body

Play · 1984

Trevor Foyle, Dora Winslow, and Bartie Cruikshank are British mystery writers whose time has come and gone. Having watched their style of fiction—with its eccentric detectives, "impossible" murders, and least-likely suspects—dwindle in popularity and sales over the decades, they're resigned to living out their few remaining years in the reading room of the Murder League: a crime-writers' literary club of which they are the last surviving founders. There, day after day, waited upon by the League's loyal (and even more aged) butler Charters, the pompous Trevor rails against the decline in crime-writing standards, while the more philosophical Dora busies herself with her knitting, and ever-oblivious Bartie dozes in his easy chair, dreaming of murder plots long past. Passing through the club, Simon Vale—a younger member who writes best-selling thrillers steeped in sex and gore—belittles the elder trio for their persistence in portraying murder as stylish, ingeniously contrived puzzles, rather than the brutal, bloody, frequently irrational thing it is in real life. Stung by his words, the three older writers hypothesize what would happen should a real-life murder be committed as it is in their books, with outré touches and cryptic clues. Conceivably, it would spark a renaissance of "Golden Age" whodunits—perhaps even motivate people to buy their books again. Fired with enthusiasm at the prospect, they resolve to turn their hypothesis into reality: instead of merely writing a fictional murder, they'll commit a real one! Needless to say, they ultimately learn that arranging for someone to be found shot, stabbed and hanged in a room locked and barricaded from the inside (wearing a gorilla costume, no less) is somewhat more difficult to accomplish in real life than on the printed page. Especially when the would-be murderers are considerably past their physical prime and, prone to queasiness when confronted with the necessity of having to inflict actual physical mayhem on a real human being. With the aid of, among other diverse items, a bayonetted rifle, a Xanax-laced bottle of ketchup, a mace-wielding suit of armor, an ill-fitting red dress, a recalcitrant thumbtack, a convenient gust of wind, and an unsuspected fly in the ointment—the classic British detective story and the protagonists' reputations are ultimately rescued from a premature demise.

Over Night

Play · 1910

This synopsis is compiled from contemporaneous newspaper reviews. Act I (Deck of the S. S. Hendrik Hudson. Afternoon.) The newlywed Kettles and Darlings are travelling together on a ship of the Hudson River Day Line to a Catskill Mountains resort for their honeymoons. After boarding the ship, they find some of their luggage has been left behind on the dock. Percy Darling and Georgina Kettle race to retrieve their bags, and the ship sails without them. Richard Kettle, recognized as the son of a famous suffragette, is known to have been recently married, so Elsie is mistaken for his bride. The situation becomes acute, when Elsie, who has old-fashioned values, is presumed to be in favor of women voting and is coerced into making a speech for female suffrage. Richard is compelled to protect her from the other passengers overwhelming interest. They decide to leave the ship at the next landing. (Curtain) Act II (Rip Van Winkle Inn. That evening.) At Poughkeepsie, New York, Richard and Elsie are dismayed to find the last train for the Catskill Mountain resort has already departed. Because some passengers from the ship have also come to the Rip Van Winkle Inn, they have to register as newlyweds but ask for separate rooms, arousing the interest of the hotel clerk. Through his meddling, Richard and Elsie are launched into a series of misadventures and near compromising situations, culminating with Richard falling down the stairs in the hotel lobby. (Curtain) Act III (Same as Act II. Next morning.) Percy and Georgina arrive at the Rip Van Winkle Inn, and become enraged when they see Richard and Elsie arm-in-arm in the lobby. They demand an explanation, but are satisfied when Professor Diggs hypnotizes Elsie and she reveals nothing untoward happened. Richard has also discovered new confidence in himself to deal with Georgina's overwhelming personality, and both couples proceed on to their honeymoons in happiness. (Curtain)

Painting Churches

Play · 1983

In a townhouse in the Beacon Hill area of Boston, an elderly couple, Fanny (in her 60s) and Gardner (in his 70s) Church, are packing. They are moving to a beach home on Cape Cod. Gardner is a poet and Fanny is from a "fine old family". Their daughter Margaret (Mags), an artist who lives in New York City, has arrived to help them pack and paint their portrait. Over the course of several days, Mags sees her role in the parent-child relationship changing. Gardner is having memory problems and has become frail, and in his frustration, recites the poetry of William Butler Yeats and Robert Frost, among others. Mags finishes the portrait of her parents, in the style of Renoir. Her parents are able to see her talent, and enjoy being in a "Renoir" party as they dance a waltz.

Party Face

Play · 2017

The play follows Mollie Mae, a woman who has recently been discharged from a mental health facility. She hosts a party in her newly renovated kitchen, hoping for a fun and lighthearted evening. However, as the guests arrive—including her perfectionist mother, her anxious sister, and an unexpected outsider—the event quickly descends into chaos. As the night progresses, secrets are revealed, tensions flare, and the characters’ carefully constructed facades begin to crack. Beneath the witty banter and comedic exchanges, Party Face delves into serious themes such as depression, self-worth, and the unrealistic expectations society places on women. The play balances humor with heartfelt moments, ultimately delivering a message about authenticity, self-acceptance, and the importance of support systems in overcoming personal struggles.

Party Manners

Play · 1949

Party Manners is a comedy play by the British writer Val Gielgud. A political farce it was described in one review as "domestic comedy touched-up with witticism some good, some feeble, about the Labour Party government". It originally premiered at the Opera House, Buxton on 22 August 1949. It later transferred to the Princes Theatre in London's West End where it ran for 48 performances between 31 October and 9 December 1950. The West End cast included Raymond Lovell, Jill Esmond, Terence Alexander, Michael Hordern, George Merritt, Brown Derby and Diana Calderwood.

Pasquin

Play · 1736

Pasquin is a 1736 comedy play by Henry Fielding. It is a satire on both politics and the theatre, with a play within a play plot about a group of actors attempting to put on a production about a local election. It takes its name from Pasquin, a historic statue in Rome. The original Haymarket cast included John Roberts as Trapwell, James Lacy as Fustian, Charlotte Charke as Lord Place and John Freeman as Colonel Promise. It was the success of the season with an estimated 25,000 people seeing its original run of forty performances.

Pastor Fido

Play · 1676

Pastor Fido; Or, The Faithful Shepherd is a 1676 tragicomedy by the English writer Elkanah Settle. It was first performed by the Duke's Company at the Dorset Garden Theatre in London. It is inspired by Giovanni Battista Guarini's pastoral work Il pastor fido. The original cast included Matthew Medbourne as Montano, John Crosby as Sylvio, William Smith as Mirtillo, Thomas Betterton as Sylvano, Henry Norris as Ergasto, Thomas Percival as Carino, John Richards as Dameta, Thomas Gillow as Lynco, Mary Betterton as Amaryllis, Mary Lee as Corisca and Margaret Hughes as Gerana.

Patriots

Play · 2022

Patriots is a dramatic stage play by British playwright Peter Morgan. The play explores the rise and fall of Boris Berezovsky, a powerful Russian oligarch who was instrumental in shaping post-Soviet Russia. Set during the 1990s and early 2000s, the play follows Berezovsky’s meteoric rise from mathematician to billionaire media mogul and kingmaker, as he helps Vladimir Putin ascend to power—only to later become his enemy. As Berezovsky's influence wanes and Putin consolidates control, the play explores themes of loyalty, ambition, betrayal, and the cost of political power. Morgan’s sharp dialogue and historical insight provide a chilling portrait of modern Russian politics and the moral compromises behind empire-building.

People, Places and Things

Play · 2015

Emma, a talented theatre actress, collapses during rehearsals for a staging of The Seagull by Chekhov, due to the abuse of alcohol and drugs; the company she works for dismisses her and requires her to detox in order to return to acting. Unwillingly, Emma checks in a rehabilitation clinic, initially determined to stay there only for the time necessary to be declared clean and return to work, but she ends up staying there for several months. After a long and difficult drug treatment, Emma begins to interact with the community of the clinic. Some nurses and doctors are in fact ex-patients, who serve there in order of remain under observation; this is the case of nurse Foster, who immediately takes Emma in sympathy. Even the doctor who has her in treatment (who looks disturbingly similar to Emma's mother) is particularly interested in her case, and offers her a singular method of self-help that leads the patient to directly facing people, places and things that trigger their addiction. Emma agrees to try the method despite her strong skepticism, which leads her to reject for a long time the group sessions provided by the program. Some time later, Emma has completed much of the program, but she cannot be declared clean unless she attends the group sessions; she is therefore forced to take part. Her new psychotherapist pushes her to talk openly about the traumas that fostered her addiction. She responds by employing her acting skills to tell falsified, unlikely stories (in which, however, fragments of truth are hidden). This draws the hostility of Mark, another patient. The situation worsens when Paul breaks in, being a former patient who was kicked out for bringing heroin into the clinic. Paul tries to apologize to the group, and tells Emma that he had begun to take drugs after his partner died of an overdose. Though the other patients oppose the idea of readmitting him, Emma vehemently emphasizes the group's hypocrisy, which causes a fight. In turn, the psychotherapist threatens to expel her too, which would make it impossible for Emma to be officially complete the program and return to work. Emma decides to continue attending the group sessions, during which patients can practise – this involves staging moments outside of rehab, preparing to confront the triggers and causes of their addictions. Emma stubbornly refuses to take part in the practise, despite Mark's insistence (who, after his initial reluctance, sincerely longs to help her). With him, Emma opens up for the first time: she reveals her real name, Sarah; she tells him about her beloved brother who, despite leading a much more stable life than her, had died from a cerebral hemorrhage; she talks about her poor relationship with parents. She says that she chose to be an actress so she could live many wonderful lives instead of her own miserable one. She then compares her experience in the clinic to the theatre, insinuating that neither will save her. Some time later, Mark is declared as recovered and allowed to leave the clinic. During a celebration in his honour, Emma lashes out suddenly and confesses the same truths she had revealed to Mark, to all her companions. Taken aback at her prolific lies, the group rejects her. Emma then leaves the clinic and relapses, getting drunk at a nightclub before collapsing. Two months after her relapse, Emma has fallen back into the throes of her addictions, and returns to the clinic to begin rehab anew. This time, however, she appears more humble and committed. She notes many changes in clinic and its community since her departure: Mark has become a nurse, replacing Foster, who died after relapsing into drug addiction; Paul finds comfort in religion, which nevertheless prompts him to drink even more. Her new doctor initially appears hostile to her, and both she and Mark doubt that Emma will ever fully recover because of her refusal to face her trauma. Emma proves to be very cooperative and confides again in Mark, telling him that she wound up with an acting career purely by chance; her first role was at a carnival, during which she performed a trivial motivational speech. She admits that she has never really faced the death of her brother, and that she wants the approval of her mother, who has always opposed her choices. Eventually, Emma even agrees to stage a confrontation with her parents during a group practise session. For the first time, Emma role-plays confronting them and admits her discomfort about the situation, which leads the doctor to declare her recovered. Having completed rehab, Emma returns to her parents' house and tries to replicate the confrontation she staged in the clinic, but her attempt quickly goes sour. Her father does not believe her and attacks her selfishness, and says that Emma should have died instead of her brother. Her mother believes that Emma will never be able to escape the clutches of her addictions, but has kept all the drugs that Emma had asked her to dispose of when she re-entered treatment. Emma is therefore condemned to remain with people, places and things that cause her addiction. In the last scene, Emma slurs through the same motivational speech that began her acting career.

Percy

Play · 1777 est

Percy is a 1777 verse dama tragedy by the British writer Hannah More. It was inspired by the French play Gabrielle de Vergy by Pierre-Laurent Buirette de Belloy. The play premiered at the Covent Garden Theatre in London. The original cast included William Thomas Lewis as Percy, Francis Aickin as Earl Raby, Thomas Hull as Sir Hubert, John Whitfield as Edric, Thomas Robson as Harcourt, James Thompson as Servant, Richard Wroughton as Earl Douglas and Ann Street Barry as Elwina. David Garrick wrote both the prologue and epilogue. The opening remarks read:This tragedy, in which Mrs. Hannah More is supposed to have been assisted by Garrick, was produced at Covent Garden Theatre, in 1778, with success; and revived, in 1818, at the same Theatre. The feuds of the rival houses of Percy and of Douglas have furnished materials for this melancholy tale, in which Mrs. More has embodied many judicious sentiments and excellent passages, producing a forcible lesson to parental tyranny. The victim of her husband's unreasonable jealousy, Elwina's virtuous conflict is pathetic and interesting; while Percy's sufferings, and the vain regret of Earl Raby, excite and increase our sympathy.

Perfect Crime

Play · 1987

One Sunday night, at the home of the wealthy Brents, psychiatrists living in a swanky Connecticut community, a woman shoots a man. By the time handsome detective James Ascher arrives, the body is gone. Ascher suspects the wife, Margaret Thorne Brent, a smart and sharp-tongued psychiatrist and novelist, although her patients are also suspect. One of her patients, Lionel McAuley, seeks fame as the "Baseball Bat Killer": he had previously killed his wife's lovers. During the course of his week-long investigation, more people are murdered (with a baseball bat), and Ascher finally learns the following: Margaret and her husband Harrison had been rehearsing a nightmare, for some time, with her patient Carlotta Donovan involving Carlotta's pretending to shoot and kill a man. Six months ago, Harrison, during one of these role playing therapy sessions, committed suicide by putting real bullets in the gun he gave to Carlotta. Realizing that she had just killed Harrison, Carlotta also committed suicide. When Margaret returned home to find the dead bodies, she hid Harrison's body behind the fireplace brickwork and, after disfiguring Carlotta's dead body to disguise its identity, sank it in Scotty's Pond. Knowing that Harrison's huge fortune would revert to his family in England upon his death, she quickly arranged for a former lover, Phillip Reynolds, to impersonate Harrison until she could transfer all of his accounts. During Ascher's investigation, Reynolds kills Mrs. Johaneston, the cook, when she realizes that he is an imposter. Margaret's patient McAuley takes credit for the murders of Harrison and Carlotta and then Mrs. Johaneston. Nevertheless, Reynolds also kills McAuley, because McAuley witnessed Phillip and Margaret enter Mrs. Johaneston's apartment on the night of her murder. Believing that Margaret was falling in love with Ascher, the insanely jealous Reynolds, after beating McAuley to death, flees to England, leaving Margaret in the house with the dead body lying in her office as the police arrive. Ascher also finds, to everyone's surprise, that Margaret was Carlotta's birth mother, that Carlotta had tracked down Margaret and become Harrison's lover. It is not clear whether her birth father was Harrison or Reynolds. Carlotta had hoped to work her way into the Brents' lives, angry at her English upbringing by a sexually abusive adoptive father rather than by the wealthy Brents. When Margaret finds out that Carlotta was her daughter and that she will be arrested as an accessory to the murders of Mrs. Johaneston and McAuley, she tries to commit suicide, but Ascher has filled her gun with blanks. A key clue to Ascher's finding Harrison's body in the fireplace is a painting on the fireplace brickwork that Ascher realizes was altered when the bricks were replaced in the wrong order. Nevertheless, Ascher and Margaret seem to be falling in love. Because of the complexity, a two-page Perfect Crime answer sheet is available at the end of the performance.

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