Ravenscroft : A Play
by Don Nigro
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Book Summary Information
Author: Don NigroEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2010-09-10
ISBN: 0573692742
Number of pages: 106
Publisher: Samuel French, Inc.
Book Reviews of Ravenscroft : A Play
Book Review: The first 30 pages were fun...
Summary: 2 Stars
...but not long after that, I stopped caring.
An inspector finds himself in an old english mansion with five suspects, all women. When questioned, all of the women contradict each other and even themselves. They are all lying, and no one will tell him the truth, **or any new thing that leads anywhere**.
This is what gets old. At first it is fun, because you think that the inspector is going to start finding out at least one or two things...but up until the last eight pages, there really is no new facts introduced at all. All they do is lie to him, and even that would be absolutely fine if the author would let the reader believe/ have a hunch about **something** for a few pages, but nothing builds up. There is nothing for the reader to hold onto or follow. There are no clues. All the lies crumble about a page after they are introduced/said by the women.
I stopped caring who did it, and caring about the characters long before anything was given to the reader to hold on to/follow. The seventy pages that he is questioning the women might as well have been ten pages. Nothing new happens.
You find out in the last few pages that the murdered guy was sleeping with every woman (except one) in the house including a slightly delusional 17 year old. Then, all the women offer themselves sexually to the inspector in the same time (except the same woman who didn't sleep with the murdered man.) He refuses them. I know this description sounds a bit like it might be a funny, interesting scene to read, but it isn't.
Disconnected from all that's happened earlier, The inspector finally finds out the truth in the last few pages: the murdered man had died because he liked to dance in drag at the top of the stairs, and one night, he tripped on a hem, and fell down the stairs to his death. After the other women leave and the case is closed, the one woman who didn't offer to sleep with him asks if he would sleep with her that night. He says he would be honored...
Lights fade. END OF PLAY.
Summary of Ravenscroft : A Play
Mystery / 1m, 5f / Simple unit setThis psychological drama is a thinking person's Gothic thriller, a dark comedy that is both funny and frightening. On a snowy night, Inspector Ruffing is called to a remote house to investigate the headlong plunge of Patrick Roarke down the main staircase. He becomes involved in the lives of five alluring and dangerous women: Marcy, the beautiful Viennese governess with a past; Mrs. Ravenscroft, the flirtatious lady of the manor; Gillian, her charming but possibly demented daughter; Mrs. French, the formidable and passionate cook, and Dolly, a terrified maid. They lead him through a bewildering labyrinth of contradictory versions of Patrick's demise and that of the late Mr. Ravenscroft. There are ghosts on the staircase, skeletons in the closet, and much more than the Inspector bargained for. His investigation leads into own tortured soul and the nature of truth itself. You will not guess the ending, but you will be teased, seduced, bewildered, amused, frightened and led to a dark encounter with truth or something even stranger.
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