Five Minutes to Morning

by Mary Melwood

Drama in 3 acts. 2 men, 1 woman, extras. One interior. One hour 20 minutes . $ 6.50

I've put this on my list of "Five of my favorite plays that don't get performed enough." In it, through haunting surrealistic techniques, Mary Melwood annexes new territory for young people's theatre.

An ordinary business transaction--the sale of a piece of land to a hunting and trapping enthusiast--provides the framework of the play. The transaction leads young Jolyon, the owner of the land, to the cock-eyed home of an ex-schoolmistress who will be dispossessed by the sale. There he enters a dream-like world (one would call it exotic except that it is so full of everyday things) that forces him to think about his values for the first time.

Five Minutes to Morning is full of challenges--to the director, the designer, the actors. The theatres that have met these challenges consider it one of their best experiences ever.