THE COUNCIL OF THIRTY
2 m, 2 f; Two acts; 1 hr, 40 min (without intermission)
SYNOPSIS
John Burroughs, a recently divorced high school teacher has been awarded full custody of his four-year-old son, Jason, because of his ex-wife, Beth's refusal to acknowledge her problem with alcohol. When Jason makes an ambiguous remark about something that happened when John was giving him a bath, it sets into motion a chain of events that threaten to cost him his relationship with his son, his job, his reputation and even his freedom. Fighting to disprove the charges against him, he finds himself becoming less and less certain of his own own innocence.
AWARDS
The Laurie Foundation Theatre Vision Fund Grant Award
PRODUCTION REVIEWS
GEORGE STREET THEATRE
‘It is mean and nasty business, and Mr. Clyman is unfazed by getting down and dirty …’ – The New York Times (New Jersey edition)
‘… inspires more fear and anxiety than any so-called thriller designed to scare the daylights out of us … theatre-goers will think differently about gossip, innuendo and irresponsible inferences after this heart-rending go-round …’
- Special to The New York Times
‘The clarity and sharp focus of Clyman’s writing, briskly carries the audience along as a single remark grows, one step at a time, into a catastrophe.’
– Home News Tribune
‘… complexity and immediacy … The arguments and confrontations illuminated within the play’s tightly riveted scenes are at once valuable, dramatic, individualized and arresting.' – U.S.1
'John and Beth Burroughs, divorced, have loved and go on loving. What makes Mr. Clyman's play touch on the poignant and then disturb deeply is the brutality of that fact’ ... the actors dig deeper and deeper with each line toward the nature of truth and the horror that lies right below our actions.’
-- Recorder Community Newspapers
2 m, 2 f; Two acts; 1 hr, 40 min (without intermission)
SYNOPSIS
John Burroughs, a recently divorced high school teacher has been awarded full custody of his four-year-old son, Jason, because of his ex-wife, Beth's refusal to acknowledge her problem with alcohol. When Jason makes an ambiguous remark about something that happened when John was giving him a bath, it sets into motion a chain of events that threaten to cost him his relationship with his son, his job, his reputation and even his freedom. Fighting to disprove the charges against him, he finds himself becoming less and less certain of his own own innocence.
AWARDS
The Laurie Foundation Theatre Vision Fund Grant Award
PRODUCTION REVIEWS
GEORGE STREET THEATRE
‘It is mean and nasty business, and Mr. Clyman is unfazed by getting down and dirty …’ – The New York Times (New Jersey edition)
‘… inspires more fear and anxiety than any so-called thriller designed to scare the daylights out of us … theatre-goers will think differently about gossip, innuendo and irresponsible inferences after this heart-rending go-round …’
- Special to The New York Times
‘The clarity and sharp focus of Clyman’s writing, briskly carries the audience along as a single remark grows, one step at a time, into a catastrophe.’
– Home News Tribune
‘… complexity and immediacy … The arguments and confrontations illuminated within the play’s tightly riveted scenes are at once valuable, dramatic, individualized and arresting.' – U.S.1
'John and Beth Burroughs, divorced, have loved and go on loving. What makes Mr. Clyman's play touch on the poignant and then disturb deeply is the brutality of that fact’ ... the actors dig deeper and deeper with each line toward the nature of truth and the horror that lies right below our actions.’
-- Recorder Community Newspapers
