The Palace at 4 A.M.
by Howard Moss

THE STORY: The Queen and Edward meet, as if for the first time, and slowly discover that the are repeating, or are meant to repeat, the tragic action of Sophocles' Oedipus .

The setting is ambiguous: at first abstract, then possibly a playroom in a suburban house, and, finally, the throne room of the palace at Thebes.

Drawn to each other and to the fate that awaits them, the Queen and Edward, caught in an intense love-hate relationship, try to avoid a destiny that appears to be inevitable.

Figure, the third actor, plays a various roles at various times: an Elizabethan fool, a stage manager, a disappointed actor, the Greek seer Tiresias.

He is a foil and a dangerous one.

The play is a study in jealousy and explores the relationship between an older woman and a young man.

It is a play of shifting moods and changing tones, a modern investigation of a theme suggested by ancient Greek tragedy and a psychological play with historical tones.