Performed April 14, 15, 16 and 17
atthe Historic Miner’s Theater in Collinsville…..
JohnPatrick's The Curious Savage is a comedy that is curiously funnyand curiously touching, too. Mrs. Savage is an elderly lady with a fortune, whowants to spend her money enabling people to do the odd and impractical thingsfor which they have always yearned. So her practical stepchildren want to puther away until she has surrendered her millions to them. However, the relativesare confounded when the lady likes her fellow inmates so much that she hates toleave the sanitorium.
Directedby Carol Hodson
Producedby special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
Synopsis:
TheCurious Savage,by John Patrick, is the warm-hearted tale of Mrs. Ethel Savage, a slightlyeccentric, extremely wealthy widow. Being the recipient of her deceasedhusband’s estate, she wants to make the best use of it, despite her greedystepchildren’s selfish attempts to get their hands on it. Mrs. Savage,however, has put her wealth into negotiable bonds in the hopes of establishing afund to help others realize their hopes and dreams, much to the siblings’chagrin. They then commit her to a "sanitorium" in the hopes ofshocking her to her senses. There she meets a variety of social misfits, allneeding exactly the kind of help Mrs. Savage can provide and who eventuallyappear more sane that those outside the walls of the institution.
These wonderfulindividuals run the gamut of characterization possibilities, and immediatelyendear themselves to Mrs. Savage (and to the audience as well). With the help ofher new-found friends, Mrs. Savage leads her stepchildren on a merry chase whicheventually brings them to the pits of humiliation and despair even as Mrs.Savage obtains her freedom.
The dominant mood is comedy with plots, plans, andhi-jinx, however the philosophy is far from laughable. The audience is left witha feeling that the neglected virtues of kindness and affection have not beenentirely lost in a world that seems motivated at times only by greed anddishonesty.TheCurious Savage was sponsored in part by a grant from the Madison County ArtsCouncil and the Illinois Arts Council.
