The Shadow Box (Masterplots II: Drama, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Michael Cristofer
- First Published: 1977
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: The late twentieth century
- Setting: The grounds of a large hospital
- Principal Characters: Joe, Maggie, Steve, Brian, Mark, Beverly, Felicity, Agnes, A doctor/interviewer
- Genres: Drama, Psychological drama
- Subjects: Family or family life, Death or dying, Terminal illness or terminally ill, Diseases, Hospices, Hospitals
- Locales: United States
The Play
The Shadow Box is actually three one-act plays intertwined together around a common theme. Since the play is set in three cottages that are connected to a large hospital and contain a terminally ill patient in each, the assumption is that this is a hospice or experimental program for dying patients and their families. Michael Cristofer never specifies the illness, but most critics have assumed the characters all have cancer. Tying the three plots together are interviews conducted by an unseen doctor, who questions the patients and their loved ones about having...
[The entire page is 2231 words long]
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