Overview

Two hours of mad mystery and thrills start with the arrival of a group of persons at a penthouse, atop a building otherwise deserted at midnight. They are a queerly assorted lot, all intellectuals, and each violently detesting somebody else in the party for a cause bitter enough to lead persons with less restraint to murder. They are indignant and are about to leave when a voice from the radio informs them of the purpose of bringing them together: to create situations that will force their self-inflicted deaths, one by one during the course of the evening. They are warned that attempted escape will result in sudden tragedy. Death is the "Ninth Guest." The only possibility of survival is that their respective wits will be sharp enough to forsee and resist the influence of suggestion by the voice of the unseen host. Around this fertile situation the play is built. The climax is reached with but three of the original eight surviving. The solution is a surprise and wholly unexpected.

Keywords

• Death
• Politics