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ISBN: 978-0-573-69656-5
Michael Frayn Drama6m, 2f plus extras (w/doubling)Multiple SetsA man who has everything. Money, friends, a beautiful
home. And then – pfft! It’s all vanished. Max Reinhardt,
one the greatest impresarios of theatrical history, had a
lifelong ambition – to dissolve the boundary between
theatre and the world it portrays. Each year at the
Salzburg Festival he directed a famous morality play,
Everyman, about God sending Death to summon a
representative of mankind for judgment. The victim
he chooses is a man who, like Reinhardt, rejoices in his
wealth and all the pleasures that money can buy. Then
in 1938 Hitler declares his own day of reckoning and
sends Death into Austria - whereupon Reinhardt, a Jew,
is left as naked and vulnerable as Everyman himself.
Michael Frayn’s Afterlife is the story of how Reinhardt
achieves his great ambition; though in a way he can
scarcely have foreseen. "In his seventy-fifth year Michael Frayn has produced a minor masterpiece, and
maybe not so minor either. I'd guess Afterlife is the best verse drama in English since T.S.
Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral..." -New Stateman“A magnificent new play...Frayn exploits to chilling effect the
ambiguous border between playing and reality.” - Times Literary Supplement“The world premiere of Michael Frayn’s Afterlife took place last night at the National Theatre, and it was an absolute firecracker.” -New York Sun"Afterlife...Michael Frayn's tremendous new play is a piece of history, ...with sharp
style and thrilling clarity" –The New York Times“Reinhardt describes himself as
someone whose goal is to “break the bonds twixt world
and dream,” and Afterlife obliges him by turning his
own story into an “Everyman” drama, a consideration of
the transience of life and the inevitably of death, often
delivered in rhymed couplets—It’s clever and, as you
might expect from Mr. Frayn, impeccably executed.” —
London Theatre Journal
"A funny, witty, thoroughly enjoyable evening with more than a few serious ideas."-WriteWords.com FEE: $100 per performance. CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS:MAX REINHARDTHELENE THIMIG - his companion and then second wifeGUSTI ADLER - his personal assistantRUDOLF (‘KATIE’) KOMMER - his man of businessFRANZ - his valetTHE PRINCE ARCHBISHOP OF SALZBURGFRIEDRICH MÜLLER - a citizen of SalzburgTHOMAS - footman, assistant, voice, etcJOSEF, LIESL, GRETL, and OTHERS Other Michael Frayn titles available from Samuel French include:
Alarms and Excursions Alphabetical Order Audience Balmoral Benefactors Black and Silver Chinamen Clouds Copenhagen Democracy Donkeys' Years Exchange Here Listen to This Make and Break Mr. Foot The New Quixote Noises Off Now You Know The Sea Gull (trans.) Uncle Vanya (trans.) Wild Honey Collections
Chekhov: Plays (trans.) Michael Frayn: Plays, Vol. 2 The Sneeze (Collected Works) The Two of Us
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