When Is A Clock
by Matthew Freeman

When Is A Clock Book Cover
When Is A Clock Cover

Highlights

90 mins Present Day Strong Role for Leading Man (Star Vehicle) Unit Set/Multiple Settings Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes American Mystery Comedy

Synopsis

Dramatic Comedy / 5m, 3f / Approximate running time: 1 hour and 45 minutes, no intermission.

/ Various settings, some real, some imaginary, in Pennsylvania / When Gordon's wife vanishes, the only clue to her whereabouts is a bookmark in dog-eared copy of Traveling to Montpelier.

With little help to be found at work, from his son, or from the police, Gordon takes off to a rural bookstore to find some answers.

His journey brings him to the town of Cornersville, in the wilds of Pennsylvania.

Through a fractured narrative that is half-mystery and half-memory, we learn about Gordon’s marriage, his relationship with his son, his work-life and his wife’s bizarre entanglements with a mysterious stranger.

We learn, too, about the nature of the landscape unique to the play: a magical universe with physics and laws that can both free the characters from their own stifling identities, and trap them as well.

Synchronicity, dreams, and alchemy combine in this exploration of what it means to be able to – and unable to – change.

At turns both scathingly funny and disturbingly compelling, When Is A Clock features Freeman's celebrated deconstruction of American culture - which has been called "nonviolent, though as savage as any slasher film" by the New York Times.

Press Reviews

"Tantalizing and fascinating."

— NY Theatre

"There’s a monologue that deserves to be enshrined in some kind of hall of fame: it’s savvy and preposterous and utterly original...appealingly abnormal..."

— The New York Times

Characters

Character
Bronwyn

a middle aged woman

Alex

Gordon and Bronwyn’s son

Sean

who owns a bookstore in Cornersville

Caroline

a co-worker of Gordon’s

Cop

a Cop

Lucy

a young woman

Caldwell

a co-worker of Gordon’s

Gordon

a middle aged man

Publication

Publisher Samuel French
Year 2009
Binding Paperback
Pages 60
Place New York
Language English
ISBN-13 9780573670190
ISBN-10 0573670196
LCCN 2010277524
LCC MLCS 2010/40590 (P)

When Is A Clock is a American mystery play written by Matthew Freeman and published by Samuel French in New York (2009).

Digital editions available on Amazon Kindle, Apple Books .

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Rating

4.4

19 ratings · 15 reviews

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Performance Rights

Available for Licensing
Amateur & Professional
Fee: Minimum Fee: $110 per performance

Restrictions: Major Markets Only (US) / Standard Restriction (UK)

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