Tantalus
by Catherine Arley, Ian Cullen

THE STORY: Anton Korff, aide to a mysterious ailing recluse, who is reputed to be one of the world's richest men, interviews a young woman who has applied for a position as nurse for the aging multi-millionaire.

Korff's questioning centers on whether the applicant, Hilde, is completely unattached and whether (as she has stated in her letter of inquiry) she would indeed do anything for money.

Once satisfied of her qualifications, Korff adds a startling requirement: If she is taken on he will legally adopt her as his daughter; he will also maneuver his employer, Karl Richmond, into proposing marriage to her, and she will sign a letter paying over a large sum of money to him in the event of her would-be husband's death.

Hilde accepts his terms, and thereafter the action of the play moves darkly and deviously to its menacing conclusion—but with so many strange events and tantalizing developments along the way that the truth of what transpires remains clouded until the final, surprising moments of the play.