About the Play:

The Innocents is a full-length psychological thriller by William Archibald. A repressed woman becomes a governess for two children in a mysterious country house, becoming convinced that they are possessed by the spirits of deceased former staff members, in William Archibald's adaptation of Henry James' novella The Turn of the Screw, long established as one of the greatest of all ghost stories.

The Innocents is a story of unspeakable horror that begins when a young governess arrives at an English estate to oversee two precocious, orphaned youngsters. There's also a motherly cook, but these four aren't alone – they're haunted by fears and phantoms and by ghastly shadows. The governess and cook are terrified, but the children are possessed by the spirits and welcome their visitations. The governess learns the spirits are those of the former caretaker and maid, both perverse, who corrupted the souls of the innocents. In a final scene, full of fear and terror, she learns that the two are now inseparable the evil and the innocents.

The Innocents premiered in 1950 at the Playhouse Theatre on Broadway in New York City. Revived both on and off-Broadway, the play has been performed in middle school, high school, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 3 female, 1 male, 1 girl, 1 boy

What people say:

"In a lifetime of play going, I do not recall a single play which held me as spellbound." — New York Journal American

About the Playwright:

William Archibald (1917-1970) was a Trinidadian-born American playwright, dancer, choreographer and director, whose stage adaptation of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw was made into the 1961 British horror film The Innocents.