Three Plays
by Ayn Rand
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Book Summary Information
Author: Ayn RandEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-04-05
ISBN: 0451214668
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Signet
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780451214669
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Three Plays
Book Review: A court-room thriller, a murder mystery and a miss
Summary: 3 Stars
This omnibus edition contains the scripts to Ayn Rand's three stage plays: "Night of January 16th" (1933), "Ideal" (1934) and "Think Twice" (1939) (the latter two plays were never produced and are reprinted from "The Early Ayn Rand"). These are some of Rand's earliest works and are uneven in quality, but are still interesting reads, particularly for an Ayn Rand completist.
"Night of January 16th" is a court-room thriller with a twist. Rand wrote two endings to this play, one where the defendant is found guilty, and one where the defendant is found not guilty, and a jury made up of audience members decides which is used. The court case itself centers around Karen Andre, a woman who may have murdered her married lover or who may have merely been trying to stop him from committing suicide, when she was seen fighting with him on a 50th storey balcony. According to the play's introduction, written by Rand, the evidence for and against Andre is meant to be balanced, so that the verdict of the jurors is based on the juror's values rather than any solid evidence. After reading the play, I can't see how anyone could possibly have found Andre guilty and this has nothing to do with my values at all. Andre is clearly meant to embody Rand's philosophy and in my opinion, all of the evidence is stacked in her favour. However, according to Rand, when this play was performed only about 60% of juries voted for Andre's acquittal. Go figure.
"Ideal" is the weakest of the three plays in this edition. When the play commences, it appears that Hollywood goddess Kay Gonda has just murdered a man and is on the run from the law. During the course of the play she visits six of her fans, who superficially share her high (Objectivist) values with her, seeking assistance and instead discovers that each of these people is more than willing to betray these ideals. I am not surprised that this play was never produced. For starters, it has far too many speaking roles in it to make it financially viable (over 23 roles in total), but also, it's repetitive and boring. The same thing essentially happens six times (Kay Gonda visits a fan, finds them to be a disappointment and leaves) and after the second or third time, I just lost interest.
"Think Twice" is described on the back cover as "philosophical murder mystery" and is the best of the three plays. It was written several years after the first two plays and by the time Rand got around to this, her writing had improved considerably. In this play Rand manages to both outline her philosophy (it is this philosophy that is the motive for the crime) and to write a pretty good murder mystery that kept me guessing right up until the end. I am surprised that this play was never produced because it is much better that "Night of January 16th", which actually was produced.
Overall, these are not Rand's greatest work. If you are new to Ayn Rand, I recommend starting with either "The Fountainhead" or "Atlas Shrugged". However, if you have already read all of Rand's other fiction, these play are well worth reading.
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