Overview

Set in a small town in the farm country of the Midwest in 1927, the action moves between the parlors and living rooms of the characters while hinting at the wilder surrounding countryside, where a band of escaped horses are roaming. The drama chronicles the aftermath of a fractured marriage, allowing its protagonists to unravel each other. Della, the wife of William, has made a break for freedom from a marriage that oppresses her, but the couple are too busy warring to notice their son has begun to yearn for his own freedom even more profoundly. The play does not shy away from the subjects of rape, abortion, old age, alcohol, and the place of women in society, yet ultimately sounds a positive note for the endless possibilities for freedom for both the old and the young. In Selected Plays by James Purdy