The Old Boy (Revised Version)
by A R Gurney

The Old Boy (Revised Version) Book Cover — The Old Boy (Revised Version) Cover

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Synopsis

THE STORY: Sam, a successful politician and diplomat, is invited to speak at the dedication of a new building named for his old school friend, Perry, and paid for by Perry's wealthy mother.

The knowledge that Perry died of AIDS galvanizes Sam as memories of his own homophobic response to Perry's sexuality are played out in flashback.

Sam's solution had been to arrange a marriage between Perry and one of Sam's discarded girlfriends, Alison.

Faced now with the embittered Alison and a dawning sense of his own complicity in Perry's fate, Sam must decide whether or not to speak out on the issue of tolerance and jeopardize his chance for the governorship.

He has to choose between his conscience and the old boy network which has served him so well.

Press Reviews

"The elite and cloistered training ground for children of privilege—the New England prep school—is the setting for this powerful play. A distinguished alumnus returns to the school to dedicate a building to his best friend, now dead. The revelation that the man died of AIDS forces the successful politician to question his own responsibility for the dead man's conflicted life. In this witty and piercing drama, homophobia and its consequences force one man to confront the repressed, WASPy ruling class that has rewarded him, but also required him to remain an old boy well into middle age. Chosen by Time as one of the year's 10 Best Plays for 1991. “…as powerful as anything this playwright has written…there is no denying the sharpness of his wit…and his increasing mastery of his craft."
— The New York Times