Balm in Gilead and Other Plays

by Lanford Wilson

"Lanford Wilson is the rare dramatist, witty and humorous, who sees all his characters from the inside… Balm is life itself trapped in a play."-- New York

Balm in Gilead and Other Plays features Lanford Wilson's first full-length play. It takes place in upper Manhattan at a greasy, slum diner, Frank's cafe, where drug addicts, sex works, and petty criminals come to escape their boredom and suffering.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre

116 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

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

[L · Rating 2 out of 5]

I need to reread again in the near future. I am not sure if it was the cacophony of overlapping conversations taking place all at once or the slang that made it difficult for me to get through the first play - I had to read some passages over to actually picture what was going on in a scene. The story about the 2 main characters finally does come together and I am sure I'll enjoy more the second time around.

[Jack Heller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose Balm in Gilead could be interesting on stage, but it isn't much suited for reading.

[Tommy Harkness · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprising 3 plays - 2 one acts and 1 full length - the full length “Balm in Gilead” is the standout. Innovative, fucked up, ambitious and experimental, it’s pure chaos.

[Fred Daly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw a Steppenwolf production of Balm in Gilead back in the 1980s and liked it a lot, but it's more compelling in performance than on the page. It's just no fun to read overlapping dialogue.

[cheeseblab · Rating 3 out of 5]

Junkies and hustlers and other assorted losers in what seems to aspire to be an animated and noisily symphonic rendering of Hopper's Nighthawks--reading it was chaotic, but I can't imagine seeing it staged. In the odder of the two one-acts, Home Free!, an ostensibly incestuous brother and sister with two imaginary younger siblings (?) pretend to be in an Edward Albee play.

The book was a gift from a good friend on the movie shoot.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

I need to reread again in the near future. I am not sure if it was the cacophony of overlapping conversations taking place all at once or the slang that made it difficult for me to get through the first play - I had to read some passages over to actually picture what was going on in a scene. The story about the 2 main characters finally does come together, and I am sure I'll enjoy more the second time around.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only read Balm in Gilead from this book. I am not sure how I felt about it but I will be working on it in class so it should be interesting to see how my opinion changes as I become more familiar with the piece.

[Asa Merritt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unique in its world--drug dealin' diner. Lots of characters. More about tone and atmosphere than character