McTeague: A Tale of San Francisco
Play Description
Neal Bell's adaptation of Frank Norris's novel tells the story of a couple's courtship and marriage, and their subsequent descent into poverty, violence, and finally murder as the result of jealousy and greed.
Production Info
Cast: 9 total (4 female, 5 male)Full Length Drama (about 150 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
- Reviews
- About the Author(s)
- About the Book
- Special Notes
Press Quotes
“Frank Norris’s novel McTeague is a panorama of the U S at the turn of the century: cowboys, gold mines, the immigrant experience, the advent of electricity and the movies. At the core is a gruesome cautionary tale, aptly retitled Greed by Erich Von Stroheim when he made a nine-hour film of it in 1923 … In adapting it anew … Neal Bell’s script [tells] a story of downward mobility, about a miner turned dentist (sans diploma) who winds up defrocked and doomed in an abandoned mine.” —William A Henry III, Time
“Bell weaves a thick, dark tapestry of themes from MCTEAGUE’s epic of incidents. Socially, the focus is on the helplessness of a rough simpleton in a rapidly urbanizing and professionalizing America — and on the determination of immigrants and bootstrap-tuggers to cling to the middle class rather than fall into the Victorian abyss of want. Psychologically, it’s on the metamorphosis of McTeague’s innocent ignorance into murderous rage — and Trina’s sensible shift into masochistic self-denial. Morally, it’s on the life-choking consequences of treating money as an end in itself rather than a means toward fulfilling human needs. Each of these levels resonates through the adaptation’s writing.” —Scott Rosenberg, San Francisco Examiner
Book Information
Publisher | BPPI |
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Publication Date | 3/26/2017 |
Pages | 140 |
ISBN | 9780881457063 |
Special Notes
If original stage producers credits appear in bold below, all licensees are required to include them in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:
Originally produced by Berkeley Repertory Theater, CA
In addition, the following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypub.com