Gurney’s Perspective

A.R. Gurney, playwright of CHILDREN, on the matriarch character in his play

The part of, Mother, has attracted many good actors over the years here and elsewhere: Constance Cummings in England, Lili Palmer in Germany, and Michelle Morgan in France. In the U.S., Sada Thompson took the play on a summer tour, and Katharine Hepburn toyed with bringing it to Broadway, but asked for many changes. She wanted me to bring on stage a character I had purposely kept off, and she proposed a different ending: “I can see myself,” she said, “alone on stage, for a very long time.” We talked back and forth for several months until finally she announced, “Mr. Gurney, you have written an ensemble play. I happen to be a start.” So we shook hands and parted congenially. The play was subsequently option for television but never produced.

[photo] Sam Hough for © WTF ’09 [pictured] Judith Light in CHILDREN, Dir. John Tillinger

© [Scenic Design | James Noon, Costume Design | Jane Greenwood, Lighting Design | Rui Rita] 2009