The Fever
by Wallace Shawn

The Fever Book Cover
The Fever Cover

Synopsis

Winner of the 1991 Obie Award for Best Play and soon to be a film starring Vanessa Redgrave, The Fever has been called "a starkly written, harrowing journey into [the] dark night of the soul that is as searing on the page as it is on the stage" (Booklist).

While visiting a poverty-stricken country far from home, the unnamed narrator of The Fever is forced to witness the political persecution occurring just beyond a hotel window.

In examining a life of comfort and relative privilege, the narrator reveals, "I always say to my friends, We should be glad to be alive.

We should celebrate life.

We should understand that life is wonderful."

But how does one celebrate life--take pleasure in beauty, for instance--while slowly becoming aware that the poverty and oppression of other human beings are a direct consequence of one's own pleasurable life?

In a coruscating monologue, The Fever is most of all an eloquent meditation on whether it is possible to live in an ethical relationship with others in the world.

Performance

Cast

A small cast size of 1 total roles, 0 female and 1 male roles.

Publication

Year Published
2004
ISBN 10
080214070X
ISBN 13
9780802140708
Binding
Paperback
Edition
1st
Print Length
68 pages
Place Published
New York
Language
English
LCCN
2003057144
LCC
PS3569.H387 F48 2004
DCC
812/.54
Print
The Fever is a American play written by and published by Dramatists Play Service in New York, 2004. The print edition has an ISBN-13 of 9780802140708 and an ISBN-10 of 080214070X.

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