The Curious Savage

On Saturday I had the opportunity to go and see a play called "The Curious Savage." The first time that I ever saw this play, I was about 12-13 years old. I loved the play then, and I love it equally well now, if not more so.

It takes place in a center for people who have psychological needs. It's more upscale than most, and takes place in an era when state hospitals were where most people went if they had a psychologial condition.

Anyway, it starts out with an older lady who is put in this center because her step-children think she is going crazy. Their father has passed away, and their step-mom (Ethel Savage) has taken all the inheritence money and started using it for various things that they feel is inappropriate. Their angst is furthered when they find out that Ethel has taken the entire amount of the inheritence and exchanged it for $50 million in bonds, and to top it off, they don't know where she has put the money!

Ethel meets some interesting people in the center. By coming to know these people, she is touched by the worlds that they have created for themselves, in order to not deal with the realities that are in the "real world."

While the play is filled with a lot of laughs and good humor, it is also touched with a bit of sadness, and even quite heartbreaking. I cried at the end of the play, and I don't think I would be wrong in saying that there were more eyes wet than dry by the time it was done.

Definitely one of my favorite plays ever!

Don't forget, "Take an umbrella, it's raining."

See the play, wherever it may be playing, and you'll know what I mean.