A SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. TITLE
The Long Christmas Dinner
Short Play, Dramatic Comedy / 7f, 5m
Ninety years are traversed in this play, which represents in accelerated motion 90 Christmas dinners in the Bayard household. Each member of the family ages with the passing years, until finally they die and exit from the stage. We hear them comment on the development of the countryside and the enormous changes in manners and customs during this period of time.
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Cast Size
7f, 5m -
Duration
40 minutes -
Subgenre
Christmas/Holiday -
Target Audience
Adult
Details
Summary
The Long Christmas Dinner – nine decades long – showcases the lives of several generations of the Bayard family. Wilder breaks the boundaries of time as we measure it, and invites us to partake of “one long, happy Christmas dinner” – past, present and future. As generations appear, have children, wither and depart, only the audience appreciates what changes and what remains the same. “Every last twig is wrapped around with ice. You almost never see that,” young Genevieve marvels, not realizing that her mother made this observation years earlier, or that her daughter-in-law will one day do the same.
Please note: The Long Christmas Dinneris available both in a single-play edition or in the six-play volume Wilder’s Classic One Acts, which also contains The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden, Pullman Car Hiawatha, Queens of France, Such Things Only Happen in Books and Love and How to Cure it.
History
Cast Attributes
Keywords
Performing Groups
- Time Period 1930s
- Setting The dining room table in the Bayard home, over the course of nine decades.
- Features Period Costumes
- Additional Features No Intermission
- Duration 40 minutes
- Cautions
- No Special Cautions
Media
“Like a surprise holiday gift... [these plays] shine like gems.” – The New York Times
Videos
The Long Christmas Dinner - Abbey Theatre Trailer
Thornton Wilder: It's Time
Licensing & Materials
- Minimum Fee: £30 per performance plus VAT when applicable.
Please submit a license request to determine availability.