BLOG

The One that Got Away

Posted by DCA Theater on August 24, 2009 in July-December 2009 Season, INCUBATOR Series: Promethean Theatre Ensemble

by Ed Rutherford, co-director of A Month of Development

We were very graciously given permission to workshop the stories that make up the John Collier script by the literary agent for the author’s estate, Harold Matson & Company.  But there was one more story that I wanted to include in the script that unfortunately the rights aren’t available for.  No big deal; he does have many other excellent stories, and rights are always a bit tricky when it comes to new stage adaptations of existing work.  But I did want to pause for a moment to give it a wistful goodbye.  The story is called De mortuis.  The title derives from the Latin phrase “De mortuis nil nisi bonum,” which is usually translated to mean “Of the dead, speak no evil.”  It was also adapted to become a TV episode on “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”.

The basic story: a doctor has just finished some digging in his basement when two fishing buddies surprise him.  When they ask him about the whereabouts of this wife, his answers are shifty and contradictory.  They come to the conclusion that he must have just finished murdering her and burying her in his cellar, despite the doctor’s vociferous protestations to the contrary.  The fishing buddies commiserate with him- everyone knew that she was loose, constantly cheating on the doctor and laughing about it behind his back.  They decide to cover up for him, and leave….at which point the wife the doctor had supposedly murdered arrives home.  She asks what the doctor was up to “Digging,” he says, “but I’m afraid I shall have to take it all up again. Come down, and I’ll show you.”  End of story.

It’s a really viciously elegant tale, like many of Collier’s stories.  I enjoy the black humor of it, and would have loved to include it in the script, but right restrictions are rights restrictions, and there’s nothing to be done about it.  What I have done is found other stories that have similarly sharp dark humor- including the one I’m planning on presenting fully staged at the performance on August 31st.  It’s a charming little story called “Over Insurance,” in which a couple that are very much in love find what so many other couples have discovered (especially these days, sorry to say!): that money worries can sour even the most loving relationship.  I hope all of you will come check it out- trust me, it’s worth seeing, if only for the sock puppet (you heard me).