A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Corruption in the Palace of Justice

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  2w, 9m

Ugo Betti

NOTICE: Please be advised, this title is from the Samuel French Vault and is made from a scan of an archived manuscript. We hope you’ll treasure this glimpse into theatre history.

Corruption in the Palace of Justice

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2w, 9m

Details

Summary
A highly suspenseful and intellectually stimulating play by the man usually acknowledged as the best Italian dramatist since Pirandello. Following the suicide of a corrupter, and rumors of bribery at court, an investigator is appointed to determine who among the judges is venal, who is the moral leper. What ensues is a harrowing play with many levels of action and meaning. The chief judge is the first to feel the massive weight of guilt; and then his colleague, who by disclosures to the first judge's daughter drives her to suicide. And then finally to a third diabolical judge, who dies laughing, with tantalizing secrets.
  • Cautions
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

"The Palace of Justice is a metaphor for something larger and more universal. The leprous spot is on all the magistrates. It betrays crimes that are graver than the one that precipitates the inquiry. For what Betti is concerned with are the corruptions in man's mind and spiri...The maturest and deepest play in town." - New York Times

"What enthralls us is the perpendicular movement of the scales of justice, as one life gains justice another loses it. But above all, it is a plea that we recognize that justice is not an abstraction but must be won in the bartering place of life...Penetrating and gripping." - New York Herald Tribune

"The palace, the repository of reason that is each of us, is corrupt, says the playwright. The strength of this play is that it ensnares you, regardless of the level on which you chose to deal with it." - New York World-Telegram & Sun

"Highly theatrical and satisfying." - New York Daily News

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  • Minimum Fee: $110 per performance

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Ugo Betti

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