No Why
No Why is a play by John Whiting (1917–1963)[1]
Contents
The original text
Written in 1957, the play tells of Jacob, who has been sent to the attic in disgrace. One by one family members come up from a party to accuse him of doing a disgusting thing. He sits silently, listening as they reveal more about themselves and their relationships with each other than about what Jacob has done. One by one, they go back downstairs, leaving the child alone with his father. He attempts to create a spark of feeling between them, but wishes in his heart that Jacob had never been born. Unable to reach his son, he descends. Alone now, Jacob hangs himself as music and laughter are heard from below.
Performed as part of Expeditions One by the Royal Shakespeare Company, on 2nd July 1964 at Aldwych Theatre, London.
Published by Samuel French in 1961 and in Volume 2 of The Collected Plays of John Whiting by Theatre Arts Books, 1969.
Translations and adaptations
Translated into Afrikaans as Geen Vrae by an unnamed author.
Performance history in South Africa
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Whiting
https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Why-Acting-John-Whiting/dp/0573021805
Copy of the Afrikaans text found in the Stellenbosch Drama Department's theatre archives and now held in the ESAT repository at the Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation, with offices at Pieter Okkers House, 7 Joubert Street, Stellenbosch, South Africa.
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