Donald Payton

A short play, easily read. The action takes place in a snowstorm, a snowstorm that brings up memories of both happier and unhappier times. It also brings in the mysterious stranger in the form of a hunter. It takes only a short leap to figure out what the man is hunting; the set up gave us all the clues we need. When two other mysterious strangers arrive, the group is complete. By the revelation, the reader has long since figured out who the two new strangers are, and what they are there for. A play that sets up suspense, but fails to deliver adequately, because it reveals too much too soon. Perhaps carried out to a full length play the suspense could have been allowed to build. In fact, a longer one-act (this one is short even for a one-act) might have been able to get more character development, more tension, and more investment in the characters. The tension builds too quickly and is over too quickly, and the author takes two characters off stage just when he should be increasing the interplay between them and the others. Overall, less than a satisfying work.… (altro)