The Petrified Forest (play)
1934 play by Robert E. Sherwood / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Petrified Forest is a 1934 two-act play by American playwright Robert E. Sherwood.[1] It is a melodrama, with a large cast and one setting. The story takes place inside a cafe called the Black Mesa Bar-B-Q and Filling Station, on a lonely crossroads in eastern Arizona.[2] The family who runs it, their employees, and some customers are taken hostage by a criminal gang which just pulled off a bloody jail break in Oklahoma City. The action all occurs in the course of one afternoon and evening in 1934.[2] The title comes from the nearby petrified forest, where the drifting protagonist feels he belongs.[3]
The Petrified Forest | |
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Written by | Robert E. Sherwood |
Directed by | Arthur Hopkins |
Date premiered | January 7, 1935 (1935-01-07) |
Place premiered | Broadhurst Theatre |
Original language | English |
Subject | A writer muses on philosophy and life's futility at an isolated cafe |
Genre | Melodrama |
Setting | Cafe of filling station at deserted crossroads in eastern Arizona, one afternoon and evening in 1934 |
The original play was produced by Gilbert Miller and Leslie Howard, in association with Arthur Hopkins.[1] It was staged by Hopkins, had sets by Raymond Sovey, and starred Leslie Howard, with Peggy Conklin and Humphrey Bogart.[4] It ran on Broadway from January thru June 1935, with four of the original cast[fn 1] then reprising their roles in the 1936 film version.[5] The play had one minor revival on Broadway in 1943,[6] and was adapted for television in 1955.[7]
This was the breakthrough role for Bogart,[8] and thereafter he abandoned Broadway for the movies.[9] The play was listed among the ten best of the season by critic Burns Mantle,[10] but wasn't on the shortlist of four plays recommended for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.[11]