Synopsis
The Country Girl
Published by Dramatists Play Service
6 Male 2 Female
Being an actor's wife is not the glamorous role so many imagine. Life is either feast or famine with months of the year spent in bolstering up the morale of a man out of work
Some actors make enough, save enough, to tide them over these enforced waits between plays, but not Frank, whose long periods of idleness are punctuated by despair and drink
Then came the event that all actors pray for-the really big part in an important new play. Georgie couldn't believe her ears when Broadway's youngest director, Bernie Dodd, picked Frank for the lead. Of course he should take it
And of course she'd help, but only Georgie knew the struggle it would be to pull Frank together, to reassure him at every turn, and above all, to keep him from slipping at those moments of discouragement that were sure to come
Georgie performed her self-effacing, morale-building job on Frank under the tense watchful eyes of a nervous director whose reputation depended on this, his first big play
During rehearsals he was suspicious, doubting her good influence, believing Frank's lies that she caused his downfall, even trying to get rid of her. Then on the evening of the Boston opening the strain proved too great
Frank cracked wide open, and in the dark light of Frank's relapse, Bernie saw the country girl for what she was-a magnificent person whose self-sacrificing goodness had never been truly appreciated" ~ Fireside Theater
"Here is real and exciting theatre, alive and healthy and greatly rewarding" ~ Newsday
"It's a superb show" ~ Variety
" scenes of electrifying theatricality " ~ Cue Magazine