The Rimers of Eldritch

by Lanford Wilson

As Martin Gottfried comments, "It is a simple one. A mystery, really. A man has been murdered. The mystery is, who he is, who murdered him and what were the circumstances? And to solve it, Wilson looks at the outsides and insides of his tiny, Middle Western town. He looks at a middle-aging woman who falls in love with the young man who comes to work in her cafe. He looks at a coarse, nasty woman mistreating her senile mother, who is obsessed with visions of Eldritch being evil and headed for blood-spilling. He looks at a tender relationship between a young man and a dreamy, crippled girl. But Wilson sees far more than this. He is grasping the very fabric of Bible Belt America, with its catchword morality ("virgin," "God-fearing") and its capability for the vicious. He senses the rhythm of its life and the cruelty it can impose. He understands the speech patterns of its loveless gossips, its sex-hungry boys, its compassionless preachers, its car-conscious blondes." In the end his portrait of Eldritch is full length, and the truth of its revelations will be pondered long after the stage lights have dimmed and the play has ended.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, Read For School

72 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1967

About the author

Lanford Wilson was an American playwright, considered one of the founders of the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1980, was elected in 2001 to the Theater Hall of Fame, and in 2004 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Reviews

[Jaksen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This play is kind of crazy, mixed-up and nuts. I had to read it twice to 'get it,' and I'm of the writer's generation, Mr. Wilson, who only recently passed away.

Yeah, we were all young once and thought the older generation was kind of stale and stuck in its ways, and guess what! Now we're them, the older folks, sadly so. Or happily, depends on your frame of mind.

Anyhow, the play's a mystery, a murder, a take on 'Our Town,' and like so many plays, better seen than read. If this were being staged by a nearby theater group, I'd shell out the money to see it.

Still, it's a little odd, even so many years after being written.

[Madeline · Rating 5 out of 5]

the use of form is gorgeous, i love when shows take advantage of the suspension of reality to mess with time. the mystery was so effective and spun out so delicately

[Katina]

My director wants to do this play so bad! So do I!

[Adam Hegg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this with an eye to doing it with High Schoolers. I am reticent but love the show. I am going to give it a few more reads but it contending for my next season.

[curlieqq · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything about this play-what a unique and striking way to tell a story. I was so invested and the ending shook me.