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Ravenscroft
Ravenscroft
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Author: Don Nigro Publisher: Samuel French Format: Softcover # of Pages: 106 Pub. Date: 2010 ISBN-10: 0573692742 ISBN-13: 9780573692741 Cast Size: 5 female, 1 male
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About
the Play:
Ravenscroft is a full-length comedy murder mystery by Don
Nigro. An unsuspecting detective arrives at an isolated mansion
somewhere in England. He is confronted by five devious women prepared
to guard each others secrets. As he attempts to investigate the
suspicious death of the handyman his questions are met with
conflicting accounts of what happened and misleading innuendos. Can
he figure out what really happened or will the audience have to do it
for themselves?
Ravenscroft is a locked-room mystery a la Agatha Christie
with five female suspects. On a dark and stormy night, Police
Inspector Ruffing is called to the country estate of Mrs.
Ravenscroft, where the young, handsome handyman, Patrick, has died
after falling down main staircase. The question facing Ruffing is
whether one of the five alluring women living in the house pushed
Patrick down the stairs, and if so, why? Ruffing finds all of them
potentially capable of mayhem – and a host of questions where he
had hoped to find answers: Marcy, the beautiful Viennese governess
with a past; Mrs. Ravenscroft, the flirtatious lady of the manor;
Gillian, her charming but possibly demented daughter; Mrs. French,
the formidable and passionate cook, and Dolly, a terrified maid. They
lead him through a bewildering labyrinth of contradictory versions of
Patrick's demise and that of the late Mr. Ravenscroft. There are
ghosts on the staircase, skeletons in the closet, and much more than
the Inspector bargained for. His investigation leads into own
tortured soul and the nature of truth itself. You will not guess the
ending, but you will be teased, seduced, bewildered, amused,
frightened and led to a dark encounter with truth or something even
stranger.
Ravenscroft is a thinking person's Gothic thriller, a dark
comedy that is both funny and frightening. This 1991 psychological
drama was a hit when it premiered in London. The script was later
adapted into the film The Manor, with Peter O'Toole.
Cast: 5 female, 1 male
What people say:
"...a real winner in
Ravenscroft, Don Nigro's
modern send-up of the British murder-mystery genre." —
Palo Alto Weekly
"Nigro has fun spoofing our
expectation that murder mysteries will clean up a crime with a neat
and poetically just resolution. Full of crossed signals and missed
messages, his dialogue is a sure sign the solution will be crazier
than the crime." — Chicago Tribune
"Ravenscroft ... is a mystery offering a la Agatha Christie with a touch of Charlotte Bronte and a comic 1990s twist. Don't try to guess the ending--it comes out of the blue." — Los Angeles Times
About the Playwright:
Don Nigro is a prolific American playwright with over 400
works touching on a wide variety of themes including murder mysteries
(the Inspector
Ruffing series), American history (the Pendragon County
plays), Russian life and culture, art and artists, and more. His work
has been produced around the world and translated into ten languages.
He has twice been a finalist for the National Repertory Theatre
Foundation's National Play Award, and has won a Playwriting
Fellowship Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts as well as
grants from the Ohio Arts Council.
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