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The Grace of Mary Traverse
Author(s):
Timberlake Wertenbaker
Mary Traverse, the pretty, carefully schooled daughter of a wealthy London merchant, chafes at her pampered existence, and hungers for knowledge and experience of the outside world. Leaving her father's protection she is, at first, shocked by the unbridled, dissolute life which she encounters in the teeming streets of eighteenth-century London, but under the corrupt tutelage of an embittered servant, Mrs. Temptwell, Mary is soon drawn into this new and fearsome world, first losing her virginity and then, in time, becoming a prostitute herself. Along the way she invades such staunchly male preserves as gambling dens, taverns and cockfights, and encounters a wide array of bizarre characters, culminating in a sexual episode with her own father--who, because Mary is by now so changed, does not recognize his own daughter. Fast paced, and comprised of series of heightened scenes, the play alternates earthy humor with moments of great poignancy but, in the end, yields both a sense of optimism and a parallel for our own time as Mary comes to realize that only through wisdom and self-knowledge can she, as a woman, transcend the unhappiness and despair which worldly experience has brought her, and progress (or traverse) toward the true freedom and sense of purpose which she so desperately seeks.
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| Genre(s): | Comedy
Drama
| | Time Period(s): | Not Available | | Play Type: | Play | | Runtime: | Not Available | | Acts: | Not Available | | Set Complexity: | Not Available | | Set Information: | Not Available | | Year First Published: | Not Available | | Total Characters: | 8 | | Male Characters: | 5 | | Female Characters: | 3 | | Androgynous Characters: | Not Available | | Minimum Cast: | Not Available | | Maximum Cast: | Not Available | | Cost: | FEE: $50 per performance
Royalty/cost information prone to change.
Please check with the publisher for the most accurate information. | | Publisher: | Dramatists Play Service
Click on the publisher's name above for additional information, including updated prices. | | ISBN: | Not Available |
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