Swiss dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt wrote The Visit, a play being read at Repertory. Photo / Getty Images
Swiss dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt wrote The Visit, a play being read at Repertory. Photo / Getty Images
The Visit, written by Swiss dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt, is another example of excellent theatre.
It has been described as a combination of hilarity and grotesqueness as it questions the lengths people will go to satisfy their greed.
Repertory Theatre performed this play nearly 40 years ago in 1984. It wasdirected by Ross Gilbertson and starred Lynn Taylor as Claire Zachanassian, the elderly millionairess who promised her money to the rundown town she'd left as a young woman.
On the strength of that promise, the depressed town becomes a boom town as all and sundry indulge in rampant consumerism, buying on credit.
The hilarious spectacle of all of the townsfolk wearing bright yellow shoes which symbolises that consumerism makes for great theatre. This playwright really understands that theatre is as much a visual experience as well as needing good witty dialogue.
You know what they say: "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."
Claire has promised huge amounts of money to the town ... on one condition ... the murder of her former lover, who's now a married man, a popular shopkeeper and candidate for the next mayoral elections.
Will he be murdered or will morality outweigh greed?
