I picked this up at a used book sale out in Carefree last spring and finally got around to reading it in a couple of nights. Written 20 years ago I was pleasantly surprised how the theme centered around the lives of a pair of older men surviving in a world where they are largely irrelevant. It was different to read a play, to imagine the characters and see pictures of the actors that performed the play on Broadway. An enjoyable read and a thoughtful commentary on aging.
Quotes:
page 47 - [Nat's lecture to Danforth on older people] "you collect old furniture, old cars, old pictures everything but old people. Bad souvenirs, they talk too much. Even quiet, they tell you too much; they look like the future and you don't want to know. Who are these people, these oldies, this strange race? They're not my type, put them with their own kind, a building, a town, put them someplace. You idiots, don't you know? One day you too will join this weird tribe. Yes, Mr Chairman, you will get old; I hate to break the news. And if you're frightened now, you'll be terrified then. The problem is not that life is short it's but that it's very long; so you better have a policy....don't you understand? The old people, their the survivors, they know something, they haven't just stayed late to the party....you tell him that he is unnecessary, that he is a sin, that is a sin against life, that is abortion at the other end."
Published: 1986 Read: August 2026 Genre: Play
