''Next'' is a one-act play by
Terrence McNally. The play opened
Off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...
in 1969.
Plot
At the
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
's center are Marion Cheever, a middle-aged, overweight, debt-ridden, divorced father of two who mistakenly has been called by
the draft, and Sergeant Thech, a no-nonsense female examining officer. A battle-of-wits is waged between the
"sad sack" determined to avoid military service and the career officer just as determined to sign him up.
Starting out as an amusing incident, Cheever ends up showing "hatred and contempt" for his country.
[Gent, George. "T.V: Chilling View of War: Terrence McNally's 'Apple Pie' Offers Three Original Dramatic Vignettes", ''The New York Times'', March 15, 1968, p. 79]
Production history
The original version of ''Next'' premiered at the
White Barn Theatre
The White Barn Theatre was a theater founded in 1947 by actress and producer Lucille Lortel on her property in Norwalk, Connecticut. The theater premiered numerous plays by established playwrights that often continued to successful Broadway and O ...
,
Westport, Connecticut
Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
History
...
on July 16, 1967.
The play was then produced on television Channel 13 in New York City in March 1968. The role of Marion Cheever was played by
James Coco.
[
Paired with ]Elaine May
Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American comedian, filmmaker, playwright, and actress. She has received numerous awards including an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and a Tony. She made her initial impact in the 1950s with he ...
's ''Adaptation
In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...
'', ''Next'' opened Off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...
at the Greenwich Mews Theatre on February 10, 1969,[ where it ran for 707 performances. James Coco and Elaine Shore were directed by May. ]Elaine May
Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American comedian, filmmaker, playwright, and actress. She has received numerous awards including an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Grammy, and a Tony. She made her initial impact in the 1950s with he ...
won the 1969 Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newsp ...
, Best Director.
Critical response
Clive Barnes, reviewing for the ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', wrote that the two plays "are just plain marvelous-funny, provocative and, in their way, touching". Of Coco's victim, "This is gorgeous acting, rich, stylish, impeccable."[Barnes, Clive. "Theater. Off Broadway Brings a Happy Double Bill: Elaine May Makes Life a TV Party Game McNally Tells Story of Improbable Draftee", ''The New York Times'', February 11, 1969 , p. 27]
Peter Wolfe (professor of English at the University of Missouri-St. Louis) wrote of the play : "...the line between victim and tormentor blurs...part of the play's merit stems from both the ambiguity of McNally's attitude towards his people and his ironical treatment of them."[Wolfe, Peter. "Two", ''The Theater of Terrence McNally: A Critical Study'', McFarland, 2013, , p. 46]
Further reading
* Terrence McNally : 15 short plays, Terrence McNally, Smith and Kraus, Lyme, NH, c1994,
References
External links
Lortel Archives listing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Next
1969 plays
Plays by Terrence McNally
One-act plays
Comedy plays