Last Straw and Sociability

THE STORIES: THE LAST STRAW. The New York Times describes THE LAST STRAW: A young man answers a newspaper advertisement offering a happier life. A 'doctor' alone in a shabby, empty office and a boy full of failure and malaise have a confrontation that is short, sweet and funny. The quack is prepared to cure anything, from homosexuality to boredom, and the patient is at the end of every tether he can find. First, the doctor seems nothing but a crook, hopefully out for a quick buck. But as the play proceeds, he reveals a certain madness in his method-it is eccentricity beyond the common call of duty. Mr. Dizenzo has a delicate way with situations, and he can write some genuinely funny lines, here most of them coming from the logical illogicality of the slightly disturbed, mildly crazy. (2 men.) SOCIABILITY. Fanny and Frank receive their callers, Milly and Jack, and the banter begins-always with a smile, always with the bumptious tone of good friends getting together. The friendly mood doesn't change, but the conversation does, touching on who has two cars, the biggest raise in salary, the most expensive clothes, until a chilling dislike becomes palpable behind the frozen smiles. Ultimately the visitors rip the clothes off the backs of their hosts and wreck their living room. They are sent packing, but soon are back again, to be greeted with the usual mock-heartiness-and so the game goes on. (2 men, 2 women.)Dizenzo, Charles is the author of 'Last Straw and Sociability ', published 1970 under ISBN 9780822206392 and ISBN 0822206390.