A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Bad Habits

Full-Length Play, Comedy  /  2w, 6m

An Obie-winning off-Broadway hit that successfully transferred to Broadway, this pair of brilliantly satirical plays offers a biting and hilarious look at events in two singular sanitariums.

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2w, 6m
  • Duration
    Duration
    120 minutes (2 hours)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Farce
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult

Details

Summary

An Obie-winning off-Broadway hit that successfully transferred to Broadway, this pair of brilliantly satirical plays offers a biting and hilarious look at events in two singular sanitariums.

The first play, Dunelawn, takes place in an expensive retreat for the unhappily married, where the director, Dr. Pepper, dispenses a definitely unique sort of marital guidance. His theory includes complete indulgence in such “bad habits” as smoking, drinking and sexual promiscuity – which seem to work wonders for his patients, whose wacky case histories are each examined in hilarious detail.

In the second play, Ravenswood, the approach is quite the opposite. Here the saintly Dr. Toynbee injects his straitjacketed charges with tranquilizing drugs to calm such urges – but again, the catalogue of aberrations revealed in his patients is subjected to close, and enormously funny, scrutiny. Both plays can be performed by the same cast, as each calls for 6 men and 2 women.

History
Bad Habits premiered on Broadway at the Booth Theatre on May 5, 1974. Directed by Robert Drivas, the production featured F. Murray Abraham, Emory Bass, Paul Benedict, Cynthia Harris, Michael Lombard, J. Frank Lucas, Doris Roberts and Henry Sutton.

Dunelawn

MR. BLUM
MR. PONCE
HUGH GUMBS
RUTH BENSON, R.N.
MR. YAMADORO
DR. TOYNBEE
BECKY HEDGES, R.N.
BRUNO

Ravenswood

ROY PITT
HIRAM SPANE
JASON PEPPER, M.D.
APRIL PITT
HARRY SCUPP
FRANCIS TEAR
DOLLY SCUPP
OTTO

  • Time Period 1970s
  • Setting Two sanitariums, Dunelawn and Ravenswood. 1974.
  • Features Period Costumes
  • Duration 120 minutes (2 hours)
  • Cautions
    • Alcohol
    • Mild Adult Themes
    • Smoking

Media

“Really funny… goes to prove that laughter is the best medicine.” – The New York Times

“Terrence McNally gets funnier and funnier. His Bad Habits is a twin bill and it's funny enough for two theatres.” – New York Daily News

“The best comedy so far this season.” – Variety

“Inspired madness of the highest order.” – Cue Magazine

Licensing & Materials

  • Licensing available for professional groups only. Some restrictions apply.

Scripts

Available Formats:

Add-Ons

Take a look below at how you can enhance your show!

Authors

Terrence McNally

Terrence McNally (1938-2020) was the recipient of the 2019 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement, the 2019 Dramatist Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2019 Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2018, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. ...

View full profile

Now Playing