Thieves: A Comedy In Two Acts

by Herb Gardner

Its focus is on Martin and Sally Cramer, whose twelve-year marriage slowly is disintegrating. He has become the stuffy headmaster of a fashionable Manhattan private school, while she clings to her dedication to the underprivileged and continues to teach in a ghetto public school. For him, their new high-rise apartment is a sign of their steady upward mobility; she is so unhappy with his need to earn and spend she moves all the antique furniture he has purchased to their first apartment on the Lower East Side. The growing chasm between them isn't helped by individual one-night stands, an unwanted pregnancy and consequent contemplation of abortion, an attempted mugging, and her racist cab driver father Joe Kaminsky.

Genres: Plays

Reviews

[William Harris]

Topical—and surely edgy for the 1970s—to discuss abortion, amidst a beleaguered 1970s NYC urban living, homelessness, and marriage-relationship dramedy. Some humorous scenes and the staging was imaginative and interesting to see, I’m sure.

[Ana]

Really loved this play. Herb Gardner is really a talented playwright. This play combines the troubles of living in the city with drama, comedy and an epic love story (or two).

[Paige Hancock]

"Thieves: A Comedy in Two Acts" by Herb Gardner was a very entertaining read. I don't normally like to read plays, but this one kept my attention. It is funny and quirky, and very unpredictable. I recommend it to someone who enjoys a work that is humorous in a less conventional way. Although the play is about a pretty serious situation, saving a marriage of two people, on of whom has seriously changed, and includes controversial issues such as abortion of an unwanted and unplanned child, the playwright ties in humor in unexpected places. My favorite scene was in the bedroom when Sally pretends she doesn't know who her husband is, just to prove a point. If you enjoy a good romantic comedy, I definitely recommend this play.