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Later Life

Later Life
Your Price: $18.95 CDN
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

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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