Veronica's Room (play)
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''Veronica's Room'' is a theatrical play by
Ira Levin Ira Marvin Levin (August 27, 1929 – November 12, 2007) was an American novelist, playwright, and songwriter. His works include the novels '' A Kiss Before Dying'' (1953), '' Rosemary's Baby'' (1967), '' The Stepford Wives'' (1972), '' This Perf ...
(an author best known for '' Rosemary's Baby''), originally mounted in 1973. Because identifying the characters by name would spoil the plot of the play for audience members, printed programs normally identify the four characters as Woman, Man, Girl, and Young Man, which are also the names used for them in the script.


Plot

A middle-aged Irish couple, John and Maureen Mackey, bring a young couple, Susan and Larry, to the suburban Boston home where the Mackeys are caretakers. Susan and Larry have recently begun to date, and the Mackeys approached them at a restaurant due to Susan's resemblance to a dead woman, Veronica. The Mackeys explain that Veronica's elderly, senile sister, Cissie, is now their charge, and Susan agrees to dress up as Veronica in an effort to bring Cissie a sense of closure. The year is 1973, but Cissie believes it to be 1935. Larry and the Mackeys leave Susan alone in Veronica's preserved bedroom to change into a period outfit. The older couple return with completely different appearances and personalities; they appear about twenty years younger and now have Boston accents. They treat the young woman as if she were Veronica, and they represent themselves as her parents, Lloyd and Nedra. They accuse her of having murdered Cissie after Cissie discovered (and threatened to reveal) Veronica's incestuous relationship with their younger brother, Conrad. They also maintain that it is 1935. When the young woman stands by her identity as Susan from 1973, Lloyd and Nedra regard her as insane and call for the family physician, Dr. Simpson. When he arrives, the young woman recognises him as Larry. The young woman is ultimately broken; she acknowledges that she is Veronica and she confesses to Veronica's misdeeds. Nedra then leads the others in murdering her. It is revealed that the older man and woman are in fact Veronica and Conrad, while the younger man is their son, "Boy." This is not the first time the three have carried out such a murder, nor will it be the last; Boy brings Veronica and Conrad young women who resemble Veronica, so that Veronica can experience murdering herself as a
catharsis Catharsis is from the Ancient Greek word , , meaning "purification" or "cleansing", commonly used to refer to the purification and purgation of thoughts and emotions by way of expressing them. The desired result is an emotional state of renewal an ...
. They give the bodies to Boy, a necrophiliac, to do with as he wishes. Veronica is left alone in her room.


Development

In a 1973 interview with the ''
New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...
'', Levin said "I had given up writing plays, but I got an idea for this one and right away I started working it out. It almost wrote itself. I just kept at it and at it, and finally finished it one Tuesday morning last winter. I sent it to my agent and he sent it to Morton Gottlieb, our first choice as producer, and within 48 hours, he optioned it. That's when it all began falling into place." "Eileen Heckart called the day after she got the script and agreed to do it. Arthur Kennedy took two days, but he was up in Nova Scotia, or thereabouts. Then we got the theater we wanted and the set designer we wanted."


Productions

''Veronica's Room'' debuted on October 1, 1973, at the Colonial Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. It was performed for three weeks from October 1 to October 20, to "break-in" the show prior to transferring to the Broadway. In the original Broadway production directed by Ellis Rabb in 1973,
Eileen Heckart Anna Eileen Heckart ( Herbert; March 29, 1919 – December 31, 2001) was an American stage and screen actress whose career spanned nearly 60 years. Early life Heckart was born Anna Eileen Herbert in Columbus, Ohio. Her mother Esther () wed Leo ...
played the Woman, Arthur Kennedy played the Man, Regina Baff played the Girl, and Kipp Osborne played the Young Man. Set design was done by Douglas W. Schmidt, assisted by John Lee Beatty, and won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design.
Nancy Marchand Nancy Lou Marchand (June 19, 1928 – June 18, 2000) was an American actress. She began her career in theater in 1951. She was most famous for portraying Margaret Pynchon on '' Lou Grant'' – for which she won 4 Emmy Awards – and Livia Sopra ...
and Sydney Walker acted as standbys for Heckart and Kennedy. An Off-Broadway revival opened at the
Provincetown Playhouse The Provincetown Playhouse is a historic theatre at 133 MacDougal Street between West 3rd and 4th streets in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It is named for the Provincetown Players, who converted the forme ...
on March 8, 1981, and ran for 97 performances. The production was directed by Arthur Savage and was performed by Georgine Hall (The Woman), Innes-Fergus McDade (The Girl), John Milligan (The Man) and Claude-Albert Saucier (The Young Man). For this revival, the placement of the intermission was moved up slightly from its original placement to add greater suspense.


Characters and cast members


Reception

''Veronica's Room'' received mixed to negative reviews from critics upon its opening. After its October 1, 1973, opening in Boston, journalist Kevin Kelly from ''
The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' criticized the plot, and pacing. He goes on to point out that, "...the name Mr. Levin has given usanis phonetically close... to the name of a coed recently murdered, a coincidence he should eliminate." Rex Reed of the ''
New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...
'' called the show, "...a demented charade passing itself off as a psychological thriller." ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' reporter Clive Barnes was of the opinion, "The play is strong on atmosphere and totally weak in reality. It shouts a lot but means little." Richard Watts of the ''
New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...
'', called the show, "too mysterious for its own good." Douglas Watt of the ''New York Daily News'', though being critical of Levin's plot, applauded many other aspects of the production, stating, "...the dialogue is crisp and the acting and direction are smart, indeed." Of the technical aspects he said, "Douglas W. Schmidt's towering and richly appointed three-cornered set, Nancy Potts' costumes and John Gleason's lighting all marvelously set the tone for an evening of mystery." He continued to say, "Miss Heckart and Arthur Kennedy as her fellow conspirator are first-rate, and Kipp Osborne is interesting as the string-bean boy friend."


Awards and nominations


Original Broadway production


References


External links

* {{Ira Levin Plays by Ira Levin 1973 plays Broadway plays Horror plays