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“Veronica’s Room” and Other Dramas: Dr. Cook’s Garden, Interlock, and Veronica’s Room
Ira Levin’s trio of dramatic plays includes Veronica’s Room, a chilling psychological drama that explores the thin line between reality and madness. This beautiful new edition includes an introduction by Nicholas Levin.
Is Susan Susan—a self-possessed 1970s college student—or Veronica, a conflicted young lady of 1935, desperately believing herself to be a later Susan? What begins as a seeming mission of mercy leads to a terrifying crisis of self-doubt.
Presented here for the first time in omnibus form are three of Ira Levin’s dramatic stage plays—by turns tense, dark, thought-provoking, and always the biting Interlock, the contentious Dr. Cook’s Garden, and the mind-bending Veronica’s Room.
Featuring new introductions by the author’s son, Nicholas Levin
Is Susan Susan—a self-possessed 1970s college student—or Veronica, a conflicted young lady of 1935, desperately believing herself to be a later Susan? What begins as a seeming mission of mercy leads to a terrifying crisis of self-doubt.
Presented here for the first time in omnibus form are three of Ira Levin’s dramatic stage plays—by turns tense, dark, thought-provoking, and always the biting Interlock, the contentious Dr. Cook’s Garden, and the mind-bending Veronica’s Room.
Featuring new introductions by the author’s son, Nicholas Levin
- GenresPlays
439 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 4, 2025
7 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
Ira Levin
54 books1,754 followersLevin graduated from the Horace Mann School and New York University, where he majored in philosophy and English.
After college, he wrote training films and scripts for television.
Levin's first produced play was No Time for Sergeants (adapted from Mac Hyman's novel), a comedy about a hillbilly drafted into the United States Air Force that launched the career of Andy Griffith. The play was turned into a movie in 1958, and co-starred Don Knotts, Griffith's long-time co-star and friend. No Time for Sergeants is generally considered the precursor to Gomer Pyle, USMC.
Levin's first novel, A Kiss Before Dying, was well received, earning him the 1954 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. A Kiss Before Dying was turned into a movie twice, first in 1956, and again in 1991.
Levin's best known play is Deathtrap, which holds the record as the longest-running comedy-thriller on Broadway and brought Levin his second Edgar Award. In 1982, it was made into a film starring Christopher Reeve and Michael Caine.
Levin's best known novel is Rosemary's Baby, a horror story of modern day satanism and the occult, set in Manhattan's Upper West Side. It was made into a film starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes. Ruth Gordon won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance. Roman Polanski, who wrote and directed the film, was nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
Other Levin novels were turned into movies, including The Boys from Brazil in 1978; The Stepford Wives in 1975 and again in 2004; and Sliver in 1993.
Stephen King has described Ira Levin as "the Swiss watchmaker of suspense novels, he makes what the rest of us do look like cheap watchmakers in drugstores." Chuck Palahniuk, in , calls Levin's writing "a smart, updated version of the kind of folksy legends that cultures have always used."
Ira Levin died from a heart attack at his home in Manhattan, on 12 November 2007. He was seventy-eight at the time of his death.
After college, he wrote training films and scripts for television.
Levin's first produced play was No Time for Sergeants (adapted from Mac Hyman's novel), a comedy about a hillbilly drafted into the United States Air Force that launched the career of Andy Griffith. The play was turned into a movie in 1958, and co-starred Don Knotts, Griffith's long-time co-star and friend. No Time for Sergeants is generally considered the precursor to Gomer Pyle, USMC.
Levin's first novel, A Kiss Before Dying, was well received, earning him the 1954 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. A Kiss Before Dying was turned into a movie twice, first in 1956, and again in 1991.
Levin's best known play is Deathtrap, which holds the record as the longest-running comedy-thriller on Broadway and brought Levin his second Edgar Award. In 1982, it was made into a film starring Christopher Reeve and Michael Caine.
Levin's best known novel is Rosemary's Baby, a horror story of modern day satanism and the occult, set in Manhattan's Upper West Side. It was made into a film starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes. Ruth Gordon won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance. Roman Polanski, who wrote and directed the film, was nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
Other Levin novels were turned into movies, including The Boys from Brazil in 1978; The Stepford Wives in 1975 and again in 2004; and Sliver in 1993.
Stephen King has described Ira Levin as "the Swiss watchmaker of suspense novels, he makes what the rest of us do look like cheap watchmakers in drugstores." Chuck Palahniuk, in , calls Levin's writing "a smart, updated version of the kind of folksy legends that cultures have always used."
Ira Levin died from a heart attack at his home in Manhattan, on 12 November 2007. He was seventy-eight at the time of his death.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 1, 2026
That's Ira Levin for you - all killer no filler! Every time consistently mediocre contemporary scripts or books put me in a slump, I know he's got me covered. Each one of these was uniquely superb. My favourite will have to be Interlock with its breathtaking roller coaster of gaslighting and emotional manipulation amidst all-encompassing sociopolitical tragedies. The titular Veronica’s Room is a true shocker, a 4D Deathtrap moving at a breakneck pace. Dr. Cook’s Garden is the most accessible and conventional out of all three plays, but it is splendidly structured. I love the set design Levin came up with for it and, if cast and performed correctly, Dr. Cook could be one of the most exciting theatrical leads. This collection could have had 100 plays, and I would read them all. An absolute delight.
March 1, 2025
I enjoyed these scripts, but I felt like there could have been more suspense.
Here's some good quotes, though:
" I'll pay for the lie. Let me have the good of it."
" There is a terrible joke here someplace; we come to america, a new world, and we bring the old world inside us."
Here's some good quotes, though:
" I'll pay for the lie. Let me have the good of it."
" There is a terrible joke here someplace; we come to america, a new world, and we bring the old world inside us."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews