Beth Henley

LATW version. Strong performance of a bleak play. Two mail order women show up on the frontier to become wives to two very different men, scraping together a meagre existence and dreaming of better days. The relationships and triangle drama feel fairly predictable until the midway turn when the naively optimistic of the two women goes missing. What follows lacks the action of [b:True Grit|257845|True Grit|Charles show more Portis|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1436277655l/257845._SY75_.jpg|1320617] but feels similar to its ending, as fate takes the characters down new, unexpected roads, but ends ambiguously with a melancholic note of nobody ever really being in control over the twists of a life that runs by all too fast. show less

LATW version. Strong performance of a bleak play. Two mail order women show up on the frontier to become wives to two very different men, scraping together a meagre existence and dreaming of better days. The relationships and triangle drama feel fairly predictable until the midway turn when the naively optimistic of the two women goes missing. What follows lacks the action of True Grit but feels similar to its ending, as fate takes the characters down new, unexpected roads, but ends show more ambiguously with a melancholic note of nobody ever really being in control over the twists of a life that runs by all too fast.

Merged review:

LATW version. Strong performance of a bleak play. Two mail order women show up on the frontier to become wives to two very different men, scraping together a meagre existence and dreaming of better days. The relationships and triangle drama feel fairly predictable until the midway turn when the naively optimistic of the two women goes missing. What follows lacks the action of True Grit but feels similar to its ending, as fate takes the characters down new, unexpected roads, but ends ambiguously with a melancholic note of nobody ever really being in control over the twists of a life that runs by all too fast. show less

A one act play about two young people who are not part of the in crowd. The main problem with this work is that doing this as a one act, with the situation given, left the characters feeling two dimensional. There are a lot of things going on here that are not developed well, and it is as unsatisfying as having a Twinkie when you want a slice of cheesecake.

A southern family faces a crisis when one of the sisters shoots her husband. This happens before the play begins; the bulk of the play is less about the shooting than about the relationships between the three girls, with a couple of other factors thrown in for complexity. Difficult to find too many people in this group to like, or to feel sympathy with, but there is still the ability to engage as you watch people losing all touch with reality and moving toward destruction. The ending is show more ambiguous and unresolved; that is not a complaint, as I often find that compelling in a dramatic work. It's hard to see this as a masterpiece, but it is definitely past competent, with the various threads skillfully woven, though a few stitches are dropped in the weaving. show less