- Paperback: 78 pages
- Publisher: Samuel French Trade (1977)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0573609764
- ISBN-13: 978-0573609763
- Product Dimensions: 12.7 x 20.3 x 0.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,170,080 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Comedy/Drama
Characters: 1 male, 1 female
Exterior Set
This winner of the 1978 Pulitzer Prize, which originally starred Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn and later revived with Julie Harris and Charles Durning, uses a game as a metaphor for life. Weller Martin is playing solitaire on the porch of a seedy nursing home. Enter Fonsia Dorsey, a prim, self righteous lady. They discover they both dislike the home and enjoy gin rummy so they begin to play and to reveal intimate details of their lives. Fonsia wins every time and their secrets become weapons used against one another. Weller longs for a victory to counter a lifetime of defeats but it doesn't happen. He leaves the stage a broken man and Fonsia realizes her self-righteous rigidity has led to an embittered, lonely old age.
"A thoroughly entertaining lesson in the fine art of theatrical finesse. The closest thing the theatre offers to a duel at 10 paces."-The New York Times
"Extremely intelligent..fine bittersweet comedy...Funny, sad, profane, eloquent, touching, beautiful."-WABC-TV
"Perfect...A vibrant study on loneliness, disillusion, old age and death yet fiercely funny."-The Boston Globe
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Winner of the 1978 Pulitzer Prize, the Best Production Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, and the Tony Award for Best Actress for Jessica Tandy, who starred in the play with her husband Hume Cronyn, The Gin Game, by D. L. Coburn, focuses on two elderly residents of an old age home as they come to know each other and themselves. Initially, Fonsia Dorsey appears to be genteel and reserved, a woman who is offended by any hint of profanity ("I never heard my papa say a curse word in his life."), a perfect lady whose consignment to this welfare home is the cause of her initial tears. Weller Martin is a tougher sort, a businessman who lost his business and now keeps himself busy playing cards. Both characters maintain their dignity by avoiding the other residents of the home, which they regard as "a warehouse for the intellectually and emotionally dead."
Weller sees in Fonsia a potential partner in gin rummy, and she, "learning" the game from him, quickly catches on and wins several games. As they continue to meet and play over the course of two weeks, they gradually reveal their pasts, hiding their failures and their tragedies within protective stories which preserve their images of themselves. As Fonsia continues to win at gin, Weller becomes more and more frustrated, and he begins to pick away at her protective cover, identifying her weaknesses, attacking her credibility, and forcing her to look at herself realistically. His language becomes more abusive, and his anger becomes palpable. She, in turn, draws conclusions about the nature of his business losses, and when she forces him to confront his own failure, a violent argument ensues.
The play builds its themes slowly, hiding their serious nature behind the veneer of comedy, much of which is visual during the card games. The characters are both lonely and vulnerable, and their jokes about their lives and the lives of other residents ring true and are full of universal humor. Their comments, however, betray their own concerns about their future. Gradually the card games become episodes of psychological warfare as these two people struggle to maintain their illusions, which are all they have left. The gin game, symbolic of the game of life, consumes them as they try to determine whether winning is a matter of luck, Divine Intervention, or personal skill. A powerhouse of a play, using humor to set its poignant messages into sharp relief, The Gin Game is theater at its best. Mary Whipple
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Alive in "a warehouse for the emotionally dead."
10 Dec 2004
Format:Paperback
Winner of the 1978 Pulitzer Prize, the Best Production Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, and the Tony Award for Best Actress for Jessica Tandy, who starred in the play with her husband Hume Cronyn, The Gin Game, by D. L. Coburn, focuses on two elderly residents of an old age home as they come to know each other and themselves. Initially, Fonsia Dorsey appears to be genteel and reserved, a woman who is offended by any hint of profanity ("I never heard my papa say a curse word in his life."), a perfect lady whose consignment to this welfare home is the cause of her initial tears. Weller Martin is a tougher sort, a businessman who lost his business and now keeps himself busy playing cards. Both characters maintain their dignity by avoiding the other residents of the home, "a warehouse for the intellectually and emotionally dead."
Weller sees in Fonsia a potential partner in gin rummy, and she, "learning" the game from him, quickly catches on and wins several games. As they continue to meet and play over the course of two weeks, they gradually reveal their pasts, hiding their failures and their tragedies within protective stories which preserve their images of themselves. As Fonsia continues to win at gin, Weller becomes more and more frustrated, and he begins to pick away at her protective cover, identifying her weaknesses, attacking her credibility, and forcing her to look at herself realistically.
The play builds its themes slowly, hiding their serious nature behind the veneer of comedy, much of which is visual during the card games. The characters are both lonely and vulnerable, and their jokes about their lives and the lives of other residents ring true, full of universal humor. Their comments, however, betray their own concerns about their future. The gin game, symbolic of the game of life, consumes them as they try to determine whether winning is a matter of luck, Divine Intervention, or personal skill. A powerhouse of a play, using humor to set its poignant messages into sharp relief, The Gin Game is theater at its best. Mary Whipple
Weller sees in Fonsia a potential partner in gin rummy, and she, "learning" the game from him, quickly catches on and wins several games. As they continue to meet and play over the course of two weeks, they gradually reveal their pasts, hiding their failures and their tragedies within protective stories which preserve their images of themselves. As Fonsia continues to win at gin, Weller becomes more and more frustrated, and he begins to pick away at her protective cover, identifying her weaknesses, attacking her credibility, and forcing her to look at herself realistically.
The play builds its themes slowly, hiding their serious nature behind the veneer of comedy, much of which is visual during the card games. The characters are both lonely and vulnerable, and their jokes about their lives and the lives of other residents ring true, full of universal humor. Their comments, however, betray their own concerns about their future. The gin game, symbolic of the game of life, consumes them as they try to determine whether winning is a matter of luck, Divine Intervention, or personal skill. A powerhouse of a play, using humor to set its poignant messages into sharp relief, The Gin Game is theater at its best. Mary Whipple
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
The Gin Game
24 Jun 2009
Format:Paperback
The book The Gin Game was in excellent condition. There were no writings or markings of any kind in the book and it was packaged as to received no damages in the shipping. I am very pleased with it and its condition. I would recommend getting other materials from Amazon.com.
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