''The White Liars'' is a one-act play by

Peter Shaffer Sir Peter Levin Shaffer (; 15 May 1926 – 6 June 2016) was an English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He wrote numerous award-winning plays, of which several were adapted into films. Early life Shaffer was born to a Jewish family in L ...

, first performed in 1967 originally titled ''White Lies''. It is often performed with another of Shaffer's one-act plays, ''

Black Comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

'', to form the double-bill of ''The White Liars and Black Comedy''. ''The White Liars'' revolves around Sophie Lemberg, an eccentric and disillusioned

fortune teller Fortune telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115-116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical w ...

(who imagines herself to be a

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

ess of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

) living in a decaying seaside resort, and the two young men—Tom, the lead singer in a rock band, and Frank, his business manager—who consult her. It soon becomes clear that their lives are much stranger than the fiction Sophie tries to create in her magic ball.

Development

Shaffer wrote ''White Lies'' to precede the 1967 Broadway production of his farce ''Black Comedy'', presented by

Alexander H. Cohen Alexander H. Cohen (July 24, 1920 – April 22, 2000) was an American theatrical producer who mounted more than one hundred productions on both sides of the Atlantic. He was the only American producer to maintain offices in the West End as well a ...

at the

Ethel Barrymore Theatre The Ethel Barrymore Theatre is a Broadway theater at 241 West 47th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1928, it was designed by Herbert J. Krapp in the Elizabethan, Mediterranean, and Adam styles ...

. But Shaffer was dissatisfied with the piece. As he put it in his Preface to his 1982 Collected Plays, "The dramatic pulse was too low, and the work came out a little mechanically." When the double bill was subsequently produced in London at the Lyric Theatre directed by Peter Wood, Shaffer rewrote the play extensively and retitled it ''The White Liars''. Shaffer was happier with this version, but as he put it, "it was marred by an offstage tape representing the voice of Sophie's Greek lover." It was not until the play's third incarnation in 1976 at the

Shaw Theatre The Shaw Theatre is a theatre in Somers Town, in the London Borough of Camden. It is a part of the Pullman London St Pancras hotel, located off Euston Road. St Pancras library Before being refurbished in 1998, the Shaw Theatre originally ope ...

in London directed by

Paul Giovanni Paul Giovanni (June 2, 1933 – June 17, 1990) was an American playwright, actor, director, singer and musician. Giovanni is best known for writing the music for the 1973 British horror film ''The Wicker Man''. Early years Giovanni was born in A ...

that Shaffer was satisfied with it. Sophie's Greek lover was written out of the story entirely, and Tom and Frank underwent extreme changes from their original characters.

Production History

For the Production History of ''The White Liars'', see the Production History for ''Black Comedy''.

References

External links

''The White Liars'' at Samuel French, Inc.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:White Liars 1967 plays Broadway plays