''Both Your Houses'' is a 1933 play written by American
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
Maxwell Anderson
James Maxwell Anderson (December 15, 1888 – February 28, 1959) was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist, and lyricist.
Background
Anderson was born on December 15, 1888, in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, the second of eight children to ...
. It was produced by the
Theatre Guild
The Theatre Guild is a theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 by Lawrence Langner, Philip Moeller, Helen Westley and Theresa Helburn. Langner's wife, Armina Marshall, then served as a co-director. It evolved out of the work of the W ...
and staged by
Worthington Miner
Worthington Miner (November 13, 1900 – December 11, 1982) was an American film producer, screenwriter, actor and director. He was married to actress Frances Fuller, with whom he had three children, including producer/director Peter Miner. He w ...
with scenic design by Arthur P. Segal. It opened at the
Royale Theatre
The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (formerly the Royale Theatre and the John Golden Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 242 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, the theate ...
on March 5, 1933 and ran for 72 performances closing May 6, 1933. It was awarded the 1933
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were a ...
, and included in
Burns Mantle
Robert Burns Mantle (December 23, 1873February 9, 1948) was an American theater critic. He founded the ''Best Plays'' annual publication in 1920.Chansky, Dorothy (2011)"Burns Mantle and the American Theatregoing Public" in ''Theatre History Stu ...
's ''The Best Plays of 1932–1933''.
The title is an allusion to
Mercutio
Mercutio ( , ) is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's 1597 tragedy, ''Romeo and Juliet''. He is a close friend to Romeo and a blood relative to Prince Escalus and Count Paris. As such, Mercutio is one of the named characters in the p ...
's line "a plague on both your houses", in ''
Romeo and Juliet
''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
''.
[Review: “Both Your Houses”]
, in the ''Hyde Park Herald
The ''Hyde Park Herald'' is a weekly newspaper that serves the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.
Overview
The newspaper was founded in 1882. For the ''Heralds first seven years, it was a suburban newspaper covering affairs in an ind ...
'', by Anne Spiselman; published November 5, 2014; retrieved December 3, 2014
Plot
Reception
Reviewing a 1992 production, ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' described ''Houses'' as reminiscent of — but "far more bleak and despairing than" — ''
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' and ''
Born Yesterday'', calling it "bitter" and "cynical", and assessing the play's message as "heavy-handed" and its characters as "tend(ing) to two-dimensionality."
[Review: ‘Both Your Houses’]
by Tom Jacobs, in ''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
''; published August 28, 1992; retrieved May 30, 2016
Cast
*
Morris Carnovsky
Morris Carnovsky (September 5, 1897 – September 1, 1992) was an American stage and film actor. He was one of the founders of the Group Theatre (1931-1940) in New York City and had a thriving acting career both on Broadway and in films un ...
as Levering
*
Russell Collins
Russell Collins (born Russell Henry Collins, October 11, 1897
– November 14, 1965) was an American actor whose 43-year career included hundreds of performances on stage, in feature films, and on television.
Early life
Born in 1897 in Indiana ...
as Peebles
*
Mary Philips
Mary Philips (January 23, 1901April 22, 1975) was an American stage and film actress.
Biography
The only child of Charles and Anna (née Hurley) Philips of New Haven, Connecticut, Philips was born in New London, Connecticut, and she was ed ...
as Bus
*
J. Edward Bromberg
Joseph Edward Bromberg (born Josef Bromberger, December 25, 1903 – December 6, 1951) was a Hungarian-born American character actor in motion picture and stage productions dating mostly from the 1930s and 1940s. Knowledge of his past as a membe ...
as Wingblatt
*
Jerome Cowan
Jerome Palmer Cowan (October 6, 1897 – January 24, 1972) was an American stage, film, and television actor.
Early years
Cowan was born in New York City, the son of William Cowan, a confectioner of Scottish descent, and Julia Cowan, née Palm ...
as Sneden
*
Aleta Freel
Aleta Freel (June 14, 1907 – December 7, 1935) was an American stage actress.
Life and career
Freel was born Aleta Freile in Jersey City, New Jersey, the daughter of physician Dr. William Freile and the former Minnie Uchtman.
She was educ ...
as Marjorie Gray
*
Walter C. Kelly
Walter C. Kelly (October 29, 1873 – January 6, 1939) was a vaudeville comedian and actor.
He was born in Mineville, New York. He was the elder brother of Jack Kelly (Olympic Gold Medalist and father of actress Grace Kelly) and Pulitzer Prize ...
as Solomon Fitzmaurice
*
Oscar Polk
Oscar Polk (December 25, 1899 – January 4, 1949) was an American actor. He portrayed the servant Pork in the film '' Gone with the Wind'' (1939).
Career
His most memorable scene in that film comes when Pork discloses to Scarlett O'Hara, port ...
as Mark
*
Robert Shayne
Robert Shayne (born Robert Shaen Dawe, October 4, 1900 – November 29, 1992) was an American actor whose career lasted for over 60 years. He was best known for portraying Inspector Bill Henderson in the American television series '' Adven ...
as Eddie Wister
*
Shepperd Strudwick
Shepperd Strudwick (September 22, 1907 – January 15, 1983) was an American actor of film, television, and stage. He was also billed as John Shepperd for some of his films and for his acting on stage in New York.
Early years
Strudwick was ...
as Alan McClean
*
Joseph Sweeney as Ebner
* John Butler as Merton
* William Foran as Dell
* John F. Morrissey as Farnum
* Jane Seymour as Miss McMurty
* Robert Strange as Simeon Gray
References
*
External links
*
1933 plays
Broadway plays
Pulitzer Prize for Drama-winning works
Plays by Maxwell Anderson
Plays set in Washington, D.C.
{{1930s-play-stub