The Visit

Visit, The (Der Besuch der alten Dame)

    Author: Friedrich Dürrenmatt

    First Performance: 1956, Zurich

    Published: 1956

    First English Translation: 1958

    Genre: Drama in 3 acts; German prose

    Setting: Imaginary Swiss town of Güllen, 1950s

    Cast: 29m, 8f, extras

Güllen has become such a backwater that express trains no longer stop there, but on this occasion the townspeople are at the station to welcome the return of a local girl Claire Zachanassian. She has become the richest woman in the world and, after an air crash, is put together entirely with artificial body parts. The Gülleners are hoping for a sizeable donation to help their economic problems, but she is willing to give money on only one condition. Many years previously she became pregnant by Alfred Ill (sometimes translated as...

[The entire page is 369 words long]

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