History Theatre / TheVisit

The play, together with ''The Music/PirateJenny'', inspired ''{{Dogville}}''.

* PragmaticAdaptation: A recent Dutch production team realized that the Netherlands don't have any mountain towns (due to there being no mountains in the whole country). The location was changed to a northern fishermen's island, with the train replaced by a boat and everyone doing northern accents. It worked beautifully.

''TheVisit'' (original title: ''Der Besuch der alten Dame'', "The Visit Of The Old Lady") is a tragicomedy play by the Swiss dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt. Even though it has a simple (minimalist) structure, it's a complex psychological work with several twists, encompassing 3 acts.

The play, together with ''ThePirateJenny'', inspired ''{{Dogville}}''.

The play takes place in the 1950's. The extremely impoverished town of Guellen prepares to welcome home Claire Zachanassian, quite possibly the richest woman in the world, who was born in the sleepy Guellen but moved abroad years before. They intend to woo her with fond memories (since they place wasn't such a sty back then) and have her ex-boyfriend, Alfred Ill, try to woo her into giving them $100,000. She offers '''ten million''', half to the town itself and half to be given out between the people... [[DealWithTheDevil if the villagers can set aside their morals for her.]]

* WomanScorned: Dürrenmatt took cues from {{Medea}} for Claire.

The play takes place in the 1950's. The extremely impoverished town of Guellen prepares to welcome home Claire Zachanassian, quite possibly the richest woman in the world, who was born in the sleepy Guellen but moved abroad years before. They intend to woo her with fond memories (since they place wasn't such a sty back then) and have her ex-boyfriend, Alfred Ill, try to woo her into giving them $100,000. She offers '''ten million''', half to the town itself and half to be given out between the people... [[DealWithTheDevil if the villagers can make one of their own disappear.]]

''TheVisit'' (original title ''Der Besuch der alten Dame'') is a play by Swiss dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt, and is classed as a Tragicomedy. ''The Visit'' has a fairly simply structure, but is truly a complex psychological work with several twists. It is a play in 3 acts:

The extemely-impoverished town of Guellen prepares to welcome home Claire Zachanassian, quite possibly the richest woman in the world and a former resident. They intend to woo her with fond memories (since they place wasn't such a sty back then) and have her Ex, Alfred Ill, try to woo her into giving them 100000 dollars (it's the 50s). She offers '''ten million''' (half to the town itself and half to be given out between the people)...[[DealWithTheDevil for a price...]]

* TheNeedsOfTheMany: Used as justification later about taking Claire's deal. [[spoiler: to the point where the Mayor tells Ill to just kill himself so no citizen has to murder him.]]

* CloudCuckooLander: The eunuchs Koby and Loby. A tragic variant, because [[spoiler: it is implied they were made that way by torture. We know Claire had them blinded and castrated, at the very least...]]
** TheCuckooLanderWasRight: But they say some disturbing things in the play that make perfect sense once you know everything...

* RuleOfSymbolizm: Claire's pet panther, the yellow shoes, Claire's prosthetic parts, the hotel's name, the teacher being the last sane man...

* ThemeNaming: All the names of the people who work for Claire. The butler is Boby, her bodyguards are former Manhattan gangsters Roby and Toby, and her eunuchs are Koby and Loby. Likewise, her three husbands she goes through in the play are named Moby, Hoby, and Zoby.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Claire's pet panther, the yellow shoes, Claire's prosthetic parts, the hotel's name, the teacher being the last sane man...

* RuleOfSymbolism: All the names of the people who work for Claire. The butler is Boby, her bodyguards are former Manhattan gangsters Roby and Toby, and her eunuchs are Koby and Loby. Likewise, her three husbands she goes through in the play are named Moby, Hoby, and Zoby.

The extemely-impoverished town of Guellen prepares to welcome home Claire Zachanassian, quite possibly the richest woman in the world and a former resident. They intend to woo her with fond memories (since they place wasn't such a sty back then) and have her Ex, Alfred Ill, try to woo her into giving them 100000 dollars (it's the 50s). She offers '''ten million''' (half to the town and half to be given out between the people)...[[DealWithTheDevil for a price...]]

* RhymesOnADime: All the names of the people who work for Claire. The butler is Boby, her bodyguards are former Manhattan gangsters Roby and Toby, and her eunuchs are Koby and Loby. Likewise, her three husbands she goes through in the play are named Moby, Hoby, and Zoby.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Claire's pet panther, the yellow shoes, Claire's prosthetic parts, the hotel's name, the teacher being the last sane man...

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: The press thought Ill was screaming "Oh ''God''!" in ''joy.''
** Though Claire pointed out before that she can make the press do what she wants.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Most of the townsfolk go unnamed and are only known by their professions. Matilda, even though she is named, is called Mrs. Ill by the script.

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: the press thought Ill was screaming "Oh ''God''!" in ''joy.''

Due to the many twists in this play, ''some spoilers may end up unmarked.'' As many relating to the ''major'' twists (from the end of act 1 and the start of act 3) will be hidden as possible.

The extemely-impoverished town of Guellen prepares to welcome home Claire Zachanassian, quite possibly the richest woman in the world and a former resident. They intend to woo her with fond memories (since they place wasn't such a sty back then) and have her Ex, Alfred Ill, try to woo her into giving them 100000 dollars (it's the 50s). She offers '''ten million'' (half to the town and half to be given out between the people)...[[DealWithTheDevil for a price...]]

* Act 1: The impoverished town of Guellen prepares to welcome home Claire Zachanassian, quite possibly the richest woman in the world and a former resident. They intend to woo her with fond memories (since they place wasn't such a sty back then) and have her Ex, Alfred Ill, try to woo her into giving them 100000 dollars. She offers ten million (half to the town and half to be given out between the people...[[DealWithTheDevil for a price...]]

* Act 1: The impoverished town of Guellen prepares to welcome home Claire Zachanassian, quite possibly the richest woman in the world and a former resident. They intend to woo her with fond memories (since they place wasn't such a sty back then) and have her Ex, Alfred Ill, try to woo her into giving them 100000 dollars. She offers ten million (half to the town and half to be given out between the people) -- [[spoiler: if someone kills Ill. When they were younger he got her pregnant, but got two men (who she has since hunted down) to testify they'd also slept with her so he didn't have to take responsibly. She left pregnant and gave the child away, working her way up thought prostitution to marry Mr. Zachanassian who is long dead now. Everyone refuses, and Ill is reviled.]]
* Act 2: As [[spoiler: Ill gets more paranoid]], the town starts buying things on credit, clearly anticipating the money even though everyone insists [[spoiler: they won't kill Ill]]. The town's standard of living slowly rises. Ill [[spoiler: tries to leave by train, but the entire town shows up and Ill is too afraid to board, sure someone will stop or attack him if he tries. Ill collapses in despair.]]
* Act 3: The Doctor and the Schoolmaster plead with Claire to invest in the town [[spoiler: instead of giving money only if Ill is killed]] since the mine still has ore and the factories could go to work at any second. [[spoiler: Clair says she knows--she owns them already. ''She'' drove Guellen into ruin to get back at Ill.]] The mayor tell Ill [[spoiler: that he should kill himself and save everyone the trouble. People begin treating Ill like a villain.]] Ill has his son take his family for a drive and gets out in the woods. He and Claire share a tender moment [[spoiler: where she assures him that his casket will be brought back to her home and placed in a a marvelous mausoleum.]] Ill goes to the acceptance ceremony, and the money is accepted in front of the press [[spoiler: who have no idea what's really going on. They leave, and the men of the town surround Ill. When the lights come back up, Ill is dead, though we don't know exactly how. Claire leaves with his corpse in her coffin,]] and the town prospers like never before.

As the spoiler tags above show, this play has several twists and almost none of these tropes are fully spoiler free, even the unmarked ones.

''TheVisit'' (original title ''Der Besuch der alten Dame'') is a play by Swiss dramatist Friedrich Dürrenmatt, and is classed as a tragi-comedy. ''The Visit'' has a fairly simply structure, but is truly a complex psychological work with several twists. It is a play in 3 acts:

* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: Everyone sees Ill as this to the fabulously rich Claire, though they point out that if she'd married him she'd be as poor as the rest. [[spoiler: Except she wouldn't, since it was Ill refusing to take responsibility for impregnating her that set her on the road to her vast wealth...which ''she'' used to ruin Guellen.]]

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