Under the Sycamore Tree
by Samuel Spewack

If ants could speak, if they could love and hate and dream and philosophize like humans, how would they react to the present state of the world?

Crist in the NY Herald-Tribune wrote: ”We come upon the ant colony at a time when words have replaced numbers as language; radio, telephone and a secret war weapon (DDT) have established superiority over the enemy brown ants and the scientist is ready to go beyond man's machines to man himself, to discover the 'X' that makes man's world go round.

The mysterious ingredient is, of course, love—and before long the scientist has taught it to a boy and girl ant, and the queen.

Contentment reigns.

The humanizing process continues to the point where the ants have 'politics, confusion—everything' plus the utterly unhuman factor of happiness.

They manage to get rid of that but then hit upon the equally unhuman notion of conducting a full-scale non-deadly war.

The scientist sets out to give this secret to the President of the United States.

His attempt to gain the Presidential ear is frustrated but at least he and his queen can, like humans, conclude that they 'have lived.'” A truly delightful piece that has proven to be enormously popular.

The play book includes photos illustrating the set and costumes used in the London production.