Original language English | Date premiered July 13, 1966 First performance 13 July 1966 | |
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Characters Robert ConklinEva JacksonSkelly MannorEvelyn JacksonNelly WindrodMary WindrodPatsy JohnsonMavis JohnsonPeck JohnsonJosh JohnsonLena TruitMartha TruitWilma AtkinsCora GravesWalterPreacher/JudgeTrucker Place premiered La MaMa Experimental Theatre ClubNew York City Subject A murder trial in a decaying Missouri town Similar Lanford Wilson plays, Dramas | ||
The Rimers of Eldritch is a play by Lanford Wilson. Set in the mid-20th century in Eldritch, Missouri, a decaying Bible Belt town that once was a prosperous coal mining community, it focuses on the murder of the aging local hermit (Skelly Mannor) by a woman (Nelly Windrod) who mistakenly thought he was committing rape when he actually was trying to prevent one.
Contents
Trailer the rimers of eldritch
Productions
The play premiered at the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in July 1966. The play, directed by Michael Kahn opened Off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre on February 20, 1967, where it ran for 32 performances. The cast included Dena Dietrich, Don Scardino, Helen Stenborg, Susan Tyrrell, and Bette Henritze, who won the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance.
Wilson adapted his play for a television movie broadcast by PBS as the first episode of its Great Performances series on November 4, 1972. Directed by Davey Marlin-Jones, it stars Roberts Blossom, Susan Sarandon, Rue McClanahan, K Callan, Will Hare, Kate Harrington, Frances Sternhagen, and Ernest Thompson. It was later broadcast on PBS on March 20, 1974.
Mark Brokaw directed a revival at the Second Stage Theatre that opened on November 8, 1988 and ran for 43 performances. The cast included William Mesnik, Adam Storke, and Amy Ryan. In reviewing the production for the New York Times, Mel Gussow cited the playwright's "sensitivity and his gift for language."
Critical reception
Howard Thompson reviewed the television movie for The New York Times. He noted that "as a TV drama, it has a good cast, an astute director in Davey Marlin-Jones, and an authenticity of background.... the action is cluttered with a confusion of bits and pieces and even scenes that jump to the past and the future....Mr. Marlin-Jones, with the plot edging forward, handles some scenes beautifully as in one gossipy exchange between two uneasy women, Sarah Cummingham and Helen Stenborg."
