Desire Under the Elms

Last wednesday, I went to the free dress rehearsal to see the play “Desire Under the Elms.” The play was set in the 1800s during the time of the gold rush. Ephriam, is a farmer owner who has three sons; his youngest Eban cares most passionately about the farm because of his most recently deceased mother. Eban feels the need to keep up the farm in her memory. His two older brothers don’t care about the farm and go to California to find gold. While the two oldest brothers away, Ephriam brings home a new young wife, who Eban despises. At first, the wife is intent on securing the future ownership of the farm, but ends up falling in love with Eban. She was able to make Ephriam promise her the farm if she could produce a son for him. In a tangled love affair, she becomes pregnant with Eban’s son and plans to pass it out as Ephriam’s baby in order to ensure her inheritance, but eventually her conscience and love for Eban takes over and she confesses. It is not necessarily a happy ending because she ends up killing the baby, but in a way she ends up with her true love. This was a very depressing play and its use of dialect made it confusing at times. I felt the acting was well done and the characters convincing. I am glad to say I saw this play and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys tragedy and romance novels. The end.

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