
Elder's Statements
Grace Rudolph
The Last Resort proves that love not only can germinate, but can grow and flourish even in the most deathly environments.
Marjorie Kendrick, a widow half paralyzed by a stroke, is dumped into a posh Long Island nursing home by her son.
Most of the other elderly patients she meets in the home’s recreation room are kept docile and cooperative by the use of drugs.
The only exception is Henry Downs, who, as Marjorie soon learns, avoids the diet of pills by collaborating with the nursing home’s management.
Like most women her age, Marjorie has lived her life doing as she was told.
But that changes following her brush with death, and as she fights her own paralysis, she strives to shake off the paralysis of the others.
Little by little, the group comes to life until finally Marjorie galvanizes them into an all-out revolt.
Even the sedentary Henry discovers that yes, there certainly can be not only life, but romance after 70.
"Even if the plotting of their breakout is hilariously inept, you keep hoping they will make it... it is the attraction of Henry and Marjorie to each other, and their resistance to it up to a point, that gives the play its deepest humor and its tension... a pleasure."
— The New York Times
| Character |
|---|
| MARJORIE KENDAL Senior citizen. |
| HENRY DOWNS Senior citizen. |
| ISABEL LOWERY Senior citizen. |
| DOTTY BARTEL Senior citizen. |
| ABE WAXMAN Senior citizen. |
| ROSE FERGUSON Senior citizen |
| .STEVEN KENDAL (MARJORIE's son) 30s. MARJORIE's son. |
| MARY MUELLER Late 30s. A nurse. |
The Last Resort is a comedy play written by Tom Ziegler and published by Samuel French .
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