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Later Life
Later Life
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Author: A.R. Gurney Publisher: Dramatists Play Service (cover may change) Format: Softcover # of Pages: 54 Pub. Date: 1994 Edition: Acting ISBN-10: 0822213737 ISBN-13: 9780822213734 Cast Size: 2 female, 2 male
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About
the Play:
Later Life has long been a favourite of acting teachers for
Male Monologues and Female/Male Scenes (particularly suitable for those over 40 years old).
Later Life is a full-length comedic drama by A.R.
Gurney. A middle-aged man and woman meet at a cocktail party and
ponder beginning the relationship that eluded them 30 years ago. What
would you do if you were given a second chance? Would you be brave
enough to take it? With poignancy and laughs, Later Life is a
play that reminds us of the infinite possibilities in life just
waiting to be pursued.
Later Life is a romantic tale of missed connections and
hope for new beginnings. Austin has spent his entire life convinced
that something terrible is bound to happen to him. One night, at a
dinner party 30 years after a one-night almost-fling, he has the
pleasure of rekindling a romance with Ruth. Now a multiple divorcée,
Ruth's personal life is in such turmoil that mutual friends look to
Austin as Ruth's last shot at normality. At the same time, these
friends are hoping the wildly unpredictable Ruth will help loosen
Austin from the grip of years of depression and lifelessness.
Comically, and sometimes painfully, these two people rediscover each
other and themselves while a number of colourful other guests rally
behind them. Like A.R. Gurney's The Dining Room, The
Cocktail Hour, and regional theatre favourite Love Letters,
his penchant for painful human comedy is on full display.
Later Life premiered in 1993 at Playwrights Horizons off
Broadway, had an extended run and transferred to commercial run at
the Westside Theater, and
enjoyed widespread acceptance among leading regional theatres. The
play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and
workshops and has become a popular choice for community theatre
productions.
Cast: 2 female, 2 male
What people say:
"Charmingly clever yet
immeasurably touching." — New York Post
"Seldom can a sad story have
been told with more fun and humor than this is in A.R.
Gurney's Later Life. There is no
dramatist like him on either side of the Atlantic…Later
Life is, I think, the best of them all." — The
New Yorker
"If we could somehow amass in
eighty years of living the knowledge of human folly that A.R.
Gurney packs into eighty minutes on stage, we could all
have an opulent legacy to leave our children…In eighty breathless
minutes he vaults from the joyous shiver of renewal to the shudder of
lost opportunities, leaving us with an anguished tableau of
self-realization. Gurney's compassion for his characters' dilemma is
infectious; you will find yourself wanting to share your own story
with Ruth and Austin by way of comfort. Bring a loved one. You may
need a little comforting yourself." — New York
Newsday
About the Playwright:
A.R. Gurney (1930-2017) is known as one of the most
prolific and produced playwrights in America. His work focuses
primarily on the issues and realities of middle-class American life
and has been produced on international theatre stages for more than
50 years. He is also the author of three novels and a two-time
Pulitzer Prize for Drama nominee, the recipient of the Drama Desk
Award, and the Award of Merit from the Academy and Institute of Arts
and Letters.
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