Synopsis
The Last of Mrs Lincoln
Published by Dramatists Play Service
9 Male 5 Female
Disturbed by still persistent rumors that she, as a Southerner, had hampered the Union cause; frustrated in her attempts to obtain a pension from Congress; and deeply grieved by the untimely death of her beloved son Tad
She was, for a brief time, committed to a mental institution by her sole surviving son, Robert. But, as the play so eloquently makes clear, Mary Lincoln was also a woman of great courage and compassion
She grew in stature as she came to accept the vicissitudes of her life - and her ultimate reconciliation with her remaining son is a moment of deep emotion and human understanding
Told through a sequence of varied and theatrically brilliant scenes, the play is both a true and touching portrait of a remarkable and much maligned woman, and an ironic statement on the misconstructions which history so often imposes on the truth
A critically acclaimed Broadway production, this moving and vivid study of the trouble-filled later years in the life of Lincoln's widow