Description

Like The Lottery, this macabre tale makes use of the rural New England setting and the cryptic, taciturn inhabitants of that area. Its two principal characters are kindly city people who have been visiting their same cottage by an isolated lake for several decades. They have always been treated with respect and affection by the tradesmen and local residentseuntil this particular year. On an impulse, they decide to break a longstanding taboo. Instead of closing their summer place and going back to the city on Labor Day as all outsiders invariably do, they decide to linger into autumn. The action of the natives is one of unspoken shock and silent hostility. One by one, the villagers isolate the couple. Even the telephone service is abruptly cut off. The falling of the curtain is as chilling and as sinister as any in the literature of the one-act play. Bare stage. Approximate running time: 40 minutes.