The Brothers TITLE OF SOURCE: AUTHOR'S NAME - FIRST: LAST: DESCRIPTION: Visual Text A strange stillness filled the room as the elder brother held the younger's life suspended in his hand, while wavering between a dim hope and a deadly hate. In the whirl of thoughts that went on in my brain, only one was clear enough to act upon. I must prevent murder, if I could,--but how? What could I do up there alone, locked in with a dying man and a lunatic?--for any mind yielded utterly to any unrighteous impulse is mad while the impulse rules it. Strength I had not, nor much courage, neither time nor wit for stratagem, and chance only could bring me help before it was too late. But one weapon I possessed,--a tongue,--often a woman's best defence: and sympathy, stronger than fear, gave me power to use it. COMMENTS: Visual Text A young Civil War nurse's two patients turn out to be half-brothers: one white, and one a slave bent on murdering the other. It's a very interesting premise, and could make a wonderful, intense short one-act. There's a lot of cumbersome backstory to deal with (WHY does the slave tell-all to the nurse; why not just kill the brother?), but if you can solve that, the intensity of the situation and the characters might dramatize quite well. (Word of advice: don't look to stretch it unto a full-length, or a long one-act.) CANDIDATE FOR ADAPTATION?: --- not set --- Not reviewed Promising Unlikely SOURCE MATERIAL: Fable Novella Play Plot summary Short Story -- Parent -- GENRE: Comedy Comic Horror Detective Drama Fable Fairy Tale Fantasy Folklore Folktale Ghost Story Melodrama Mystery Myth Operetta Other Romance Suspense Young Audiences -- Parent -- SETTING: Africa America England Europe Fantasy International New Zealand Pastoral Rural Rustic Science Fiction -- Parent -- LENGTH FOR ADAPTATION: 10 Minutes 15 Minutes 30 Minutes 45 Minutes 60 Minutes 90 Minutes Two Hours -- Parent -- URL FOR PDF DOCUMENT: TheBrothers.pdf
