The second production of our 2007-2008 season is “The Visit”, by Swiss playwright Friedrich Duerrenmatt, acclaimed by critics and audiences alike as one of the best plays of the twentieth century.· This tragi-comedic fable, written in 1956, is a quintessential take on human foibles, fears, and moral frailty.· The story takes us to a down-at-the-heels little town “somewhere in central Europe”, to which one Claire Zachanassian is returning.· Having left decades earlier as a destitute teenager, she comes back in triumph, as the richest woman in the world.· She promises to turn the fortunes of the town around in exchange for … .· Suffice to say that it amounts to a bargain with the devil.· Whether the townsfolk will succumb to the lure of riches, or resist temptation, is the central theme of this play.· In this somewhat bizarre and engrossing satire, laughter and heartbreak are never far apart.· Not to be missed!

This play, which was first performed in Zurich, in German, was within a few short years translated into practically every literary language, and has been performed worldwide to enthralled audiences.· The first American production took place in New York in 1958, directed by a Peter Brook and starring the legendary Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontaine.