Brighton Beach Memoirs (Masterplots II: Drama, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Neil Simon
- First Published: 1984
- Type of Plot: Comedy
- Time of Work: September, 1937
- Setting: Brighton Beach, a district of Brooklyn, New York
- Principal Characters: Eugene, Stanley, Kate, Jack, Blanche, Laurie, Nora
- Genres: Domestic realism, Drama, Comedy
- Subjects: Maturation or coming of age, Family or family life, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Adolescence, Teenagers, Sex or sexuality, New York City, World War II, Depression, economic, 1930’s, Inner cities or inner-city life, Jews or Jewish life, War, Sisters, Working class
- Locales: Brighton Beach, NY
The Play
Brighton Beach Memoirs begins as the lights come up on Eugene Jerome playing outside the family home. A voice like that of a radio sports announcer can be heard as Eugene goes through the motions of a mock baseball game. He is dressed in knickers, a shirt and tie, a faded and torn sweater, Keds sneakers, and a blue baseball cap. The house is a wooden frame building in a lower-middle-class district of Brooklyn, New York. The time is about half past six in the evening. Inside the house, Kate Jerome is setting the table for the supper meal. Kate’s sister, Blanche...
[The entire page is 3191 words long]

