Friedrich Durrenmatt's tragic-comedy The Visit (Der Besuch der Alten Dame) puts a hilariously hyperbolic spin on the old adage "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." When the play opens the town of Guellen is preparing for the arrival of a former citizen turned billionaire, Clare Zachanassian. Since Clare's departure her once affluent home town has become all but bankrupt (though these events are seemingly unrelated). The townspeople's hopes are rewarded when Clare promises to donate half a billion dollars to the town and to divide another half billion amongst its citizens. There is, however, one string attached; in order to receive her generous gift the citizens of Guellen must murder their most beloved citizen and Clare's one time lover, Alfred Ill. Though initially affronted by the mere suggestion of murdering for money, the townsfolk begin to buy on credit what they could never have hoped to afford in the past. Durrenmatt suggests that everyone has a price, as even the most stringent moralists begin to submit to Clare's will. This darkly humorous drama is a stunning commentary on greed, justice, and modern morality.

Dürrenmatt once wrote of himself: “I can best be understood if one grasps grotesqueness,” and The Visit is a consummate, alarming Dürrenmatt blend of hilarity, horror, and vertigo. The play takes place “somewhere in Central Europe” and tells of an elderly millionairess who, merely on the promise of her millions, swiftly turns a depressed area into a boom town. But the condition attached to her largesse, which the locals learn of only after they are enmeshed, is murder. Dürrenmatt has fashioned a macabre and entertaining parable that is a scathing indictment of the power of greed.

Imprint: Grove Press
Distributor: Perseus Distribution
Publication Date: 01-07-1994
Pages: 112
Measurements: 8.25in X 5.38in X 0.20lb