August Wilson's King Hedley II
by August Wilson

Name: August Wilson's King Hedley II
Brand: August Wilson
SKU: 9780573704758
Rating: 3.96 (8 reviews)

August Wilson's King Hedley II Book Cover — August Wilson's King Hedley II Cover

Highlights

Female

Male

120 mins 1980s Role(s) for Black Actor(s) Unit Set/Multiple Settings

Awards & Recognition

Pulitzer Prize Tony Award

Finalist: 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Nominee: 2001 Tony Award for Best Play August Wilson is the recipient of the 1986 Whiting Award for Drama.

Synopsis

Peddling stolen refrigerators in the feeble hope of making enough money to open a video store, King Hedley, a man whose self worth is built on self delusion, is scraping in the dirt of an urban backyard trying to plant seeds where nothing will grow.

Getting, spending, killing and dying in a world where getting is hard and killing is commonplace are threads woven into this 1980s installment in the American Century Cycle, August Wilson’s renowned cycle of plays about the Black experience in America.

Drawing on characters established in Seven Guitars , King Hedley II shows the shadows of the past reaching into the present as King seeks retribution for a lie perpetrated by his mother regarding the identity of his father.

Press Reviews

"Grand... some of the finest monologues ever written for an American stage, speeches that build gritty, often brutal details into fiery patterns of insight... You may feel the scorch of lightning."
— The New York Times

"Mesmerizing... full of powerful images that convey the darkly comic dialogue between hope and hopelessness in African American life."
— New York Daily News

"Exhilarating... Wilson has endowed his struggling souls with a metaphysical grandeur and a titanic vigor of language that is like no other dramatist’s. He takes the idea of tragedy and the common man to Olympian heights... [and] boldly tackles the big philosophical questions most contemporary playwrights shrink from. He articulates these questions with grounding, often witty detail and in an inner-city vernacular that soars into both unabashed lyricism and earthy anecdote... There is no denying the transporting, natural music of Hedley and phrases from it haunt the memory."
— The New York Times

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
Ruby King’s mother, former big band singer who recently moved back to Pittsburgh. Sixties.	female	—	King’s mother, former big band singer who recently moved back to Pittsburgh. Sixties.
Mister King’s best friend since grade school and sometimes business partner. Thirties.	male	—	King’s best friend since grade school and sometimes business partner. Thirties.
Elmore Ruby’s longtime, but sporadic flame. A professional hustler. Sixties.	—	—	Ruby’s longtime, but sporadic flame. A professional hustler. Sixties.
Tonya King’s wife of a few years. Thirties.	female	—	King’s wife of a few years. Thirties.
Stool Pigeon King’s next-door neighbor. The Hill’s spiritual and practical truthsayer. Late sixties.	male	—	King’s next-door neighbor. The Hill’s spiritual and practical truthsayer. Late sixties.
King (King Hedley Ii) Has a vicious scar running down the left side of his face. Spent seven years in prison. Strives to live by his own moral code. Thirties.	male	—	Has a vicious scar running down the left side of his face. Spent seven years in prison. Strives to live by his own moral code. Thirties.