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| After the Fall | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Written by | Arthur Miller |
| Characters |
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| Date premiered | January 23, 1964 |
| Place premiered | ANTA Washington Square Theatre |
| Original language | English |
| Setting | New York |
After the Fall is a play by the American dramatistArthur Miller.
The play premiered on Broadway at theANTA Washington Square Theatre on January 23, 1964, and closed on May 29, 1965 after 208 performances. Directed byElia Kazan, who collaborated with Miller on the script, the cast starredBarbara Loden as Maggie andJason Robards Jr. as Quentin, along withRalph Meeker as Mickey,[1]Salome Jens as Holga, and an early appearance byFaye Dunaway as Nurse.[2]
Barbara Loden, who would become Kazan's wife in 1967, won the 1964Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play, andJason Robards was nominated for the 1964Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.[2]
In 1984, the play was revivedOff-Broadway at Playhouse 91, where it ran from October 4 to December 2 that year. Directed byJohn Tillinger, the cast starredFrank Langella andDianne Wiest.[3][4]
In 2004, the play was revived on Broadway at theAmerican Airlines Theatre in aRoundabout Theatre Company production from June 25 (previews) to September 12 that year. Directed byMichael Mayer, the cast starredPeter Krause andCarla Gugino.[5] The play was nominated for the 2005Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design of a Play (Richard Hoover).[6]
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After the Fall, one of Miller's more personal plays, is a thinly veiled personal critique centered on Miller's recent divorce fromMarilyn Monroe: the plot takes place inside the mind of Quentin, a New York City Jewish intellectual who decides to reexamine his life, in order to determine whether or not he should marry his most recent love, Holga.
The play has been roundly criticised by some for being too similar to Miller's actual life because Maggie's suicide is similar to the overdose death of Miller's former wife, Monroe. The feelings of the protagonist, Quentin, are often believed to be Miller's own reflections about his failed marriage.[7][8]
For example, according to Sarah Bradford, in her biographyAmerica's Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, "Jackie, who had admired Arthur Miller enough to seat him at her table at the Malraux dinner, turned on him for his betrayal of Marilyn in his playAfter the Fall, which opened in New York on January 23, 1964. For [Jackie Kennedy] loyalty was the ultimate test of character, and in portraying Marilyn as a self-destructive slut whom he had abandoned for her own good, Miller had dismally failed it."[9]
Barbara Loden received critical acclaim for her performance as Maggie.Howard Taubman ofThe New York Times called Loden's performance "stunning"; he further noted she "all but enkindles the stage, in her early scenes as the warm, childlike enchantress and in her later ones as the sick, frenzied demon of allure bent on self-destruction".[10]Earl Wilson, in a column for theSan Francisco Examiner, wrote Loden "is so good as Marilyn Monroe in Arthur Miller'sAfter the Fall that she has officially tossed her pajama tops into the ring to be the new American Sex Symbol ... and she deserves it".[11] John Chapman of theNew York Daily News called Loden's performance "magnificently played", as well noted she is "ash blonde, very beautiful and very sexy, [and] is an astonishing reminder of the late Marilyn Monroe."[12]
A review inTime magazine called the play "endlessly fascinating, emotionally harrowing, and consumingly committed to telling the truth as Miller sees it." It also noted Kazan had charged the play "with theatrical electricity", while calling Robards Jr.'s performance as Quentin " brilliant, grueling".[13] Hobe Morrison ofVariety describedAfter the Fall as an "almost exactly three hours of guilt confession and self-justification". In summary, he felt Miller's play is "interesting, but exhausting. In short,After the Fall is a play of contrasts and despite its faults, not to be dismissed."[14]Claudia Cassidy was more critical of Miller's play, calling it "a three hour monolog of self-justification, with interruptions and conjurations, by a guilt-ridden man who has bad luck with women".[15]Frank Rich reviewed a 1984 revival, in which he felt the play "is never as moving or profound as it wants to be. The play remains a collection of sporadically arresting autobiographical fragments—all floating in a glutinous interior monologue that substitutes tortuous rhetoric for psychological or metaphysical insight."[3]
In June 1964, Miller sold the screen rights to the play toCarlo Ponti and Ira Steiner, for an estimated $500,000.Paul Newman and Ponti's wifeSophia Loren were in line to portray Quentin and Maggie.Fred Zinnemann was in discussions to direct the film.[16]
Atelevision production of the play was shown in December 1974 on NBC. It starredFaye Dunaway,Christopher Plummer,Bibi Andersson, and a youngBrooke Shields, and was directed byGilbert Cates. Arthur Miller wrote the teleplay based upon his original stage play.[citation needed][17][18]
