Birthday Present, The
by Peter Brook

A woman tells a younger woman not to be afraid, then goes into another room.

There's a man at the door, the ex-husband of the younger woman, and he's astonished to have been invited to see her again, for it has been several years since their divorce.

It is her birthday.

Without knowing it, he's also brought her another present, and that is the point of the play.

As they fence cautiously, we begin to see that these two people might have made it together.

As they begin to see this themselves, the excitement rises.

Beginning to respond to each other's love, they are interrupted by the older woman, a psychiatrist who has arranged the encounter as a part of the ex-wife's therapy.

This brief last moment is a collision between mind and emotion.

One int.

set.