Dumb Andy

by Maria Edgeworth

Play in seven scenes with music. 3 men, 3 women, 4 children. Multiple unit set. 50 minutes . $ 6.50

The oldest of our "new" plays dates back to 1827, when Dumb Andy was first published. Going back to a time when children were not isolated as a "special interest" audience, and to a play which was written for the Irish novelist Maria Edgeworth's large family and their guests to play for each other's entertainment, you will be surprised and delighted by the charm, the vitality, the unexpected depth.

Don't be put off by the title ("dumb" here means "mute.") The orphan beggar Andy is forced to play deaf and dumb in order to appeal more successfully for charity from the rich. Through the boy's encounter with the children of privilege, Dumb Andy gives you a way to take your audiences to another time and place which has fascinating parallels to our own. But don't think of it as strictly "educational." Watty Brannigan, father of the beggar family, is probably the funniest, most unabashed villain to appear on the stage since Mr. Peachum.