Theatre
Toys in the Attic
Lillian Hellman · 1960
Synopsis
In New Orleans, Anna and Carrie Berniers, two sisters in their forties, live together in the family home: the elder sells coats in a shop, the younger works in an office. They save for a trip to Europe that they put off from year to year, and have always supported their younger brother Julian, who fails at everything he undertakes. He returns one day from Chicago, where he lost a shoe factory, with his young wife Lily, the daughter of a wealthy woman, presents, tickets for Europe and a large sum whose source he does not reveal.
Context
Its author had not written since the failure of the operetta Candide, in 1956, when Dashiell Hammett, her companion for almost thirty years, gave her the subject. She turned her attention to the two sisters, whom she drew from her own aunts. Opened at the Hudson Theatre on Broadway on 25 February 1960, in a staging by Arthur Penn, the play ran for 456 performances; in 1963 George Roy Hill made a film of it, released in France under the title Le Tumulte. Afterwards she wrote only one adaptation, then turned to the memoir.
Who it is for
Three acts on a single set, where information is revealed little by little. No published French translation.
Prizes and reception
New York Drama Critics' Circle Award in 1960, the second for its author, for what was her last original play.
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