About the Play:

Of Mice and Men has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female/Male Scenes and Male/Male Scenes.

Of Mice and Men is a full-length drama by John Steinbeck. The story of two migrant field hands who find work on a farm in California during the Great Depression, seeing their dreams succumb to bad luck and hard times, in John Steinbeck's own adaptation of his classic novel.

Of Mice and Men is a powerful portrait of the American spirit and a heartbreaking testament to the bonds of friendship. Two hard-luck migrant workers with delusions of living off the "fat of the land," the average-looking but smart George and his friend the strong but mentally challenged Lennie, have just arrived at a ranch to work for enough money to buy their own place. Lennie is a man-child, a little boy in the body of a dangerously powerful man. It's Lennie's obsessions with things soft and cuddly, that have made George cautious about who the gentle giant, with his brute strength, associates with. His promise to allow Lennie to "tend to the rabbits" on their future land keeps Lennie calm, amidst distractions, as the overgrown child needs constant reassurance. But when a ranch boss' promiscuous wife is found dead in the barn with a broken neck, it's obvious that Lennie, albeit accidentally, killed her. George, now worried about his own safety, knows exactly where Lennie has gone to hide, and he meets him there. Realizing they can't run away anymore, George is faced with a moral question: how should he deal with Lennie before the ranchers find him and take matters into their own hands.

Of Mice and Men achieved remarkable success as a novel, a Broadway play, and three acclaimed films. The 1937 production opened on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre while the novel was still on best seller lists. The play, which predates the Tony Awards and the Drama Desk Awards, earned the 1938 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play. The show enjoyed several revivals, has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops, and is regularly performed in regional, middle school, high school, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 1 female, 9 male

What people say:

"John Steinbeck's adventure paints an inspirational portrait of the American spirit and a heartbreaking testament to the bonds of friendship." — American Theatre Wing

"A Masterpiece." — Time Magazine

"A thrilling evening in the theatre." — NPR

About the Playwright:

John Steinbeck (1902-1968) was an American writer. He wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the playable novella Of Mice and Men, written in novel form but so scened and set that it can be played as it stands. He wrote a total of twenty-seven books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and five collections of short stories. In 1962, Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature.