A 1972 collection of three plays that Bradbury both wrote and produced himself.

There's kind of a fascinating thing about Bradbury's writing that I think is particularly noticeable in this format. His great strength, unquestionably, is his beautiful, evocative prose, but it often seems like that just should not work when he puts it into the mouths of his characters. People will be going along having reasonably normal conversations, and then they'll ask a computer to show them Paris by saying things like, "Paris. The blue hour of twilight. The gold hour of sunset. An Eiffel Tower, please, of bronze! An Arc de Triomphe of shining brass! Let fountains toss forth fiery lava. Let the Seine be a torrent of gold!" It ought to feel ridiculous, pretentious, full of painfully obvious artifice, but somehow he actually does make it feel magical instead. And that, my friends, is some talent.

Anyway. Like I said, there are three plays included here. Specifically:

The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit: Six men pool their money to buy one much-desired white summer suit to share between them. It's an odd piece, really, but oddly charming and the way their brief, beautiful moments of getting to wear the suit are described for the stage feel downright poetic. There is, perhaps, some feel of stereotype to the way the Mexican-American protagonists talk (lots of "ay, caramba!", plus one of them is named Vamenos for some reason?), but there is never disdain for them, and Bradbury says in the introduction that he was drawing on people he knew in New Mexico and Arizona in his youth, as well as on his own experiences of being too poor to be able to afford your own suit.

The Veldt: A rich family in the near future (well, 1991, apparently, which was still an imagined future at the time), installs an immersive "playroom" that can appear to transport you anywhere. The kids become entirely too fond of the African veldt. I'd already encountered this story enough times in enough different formats (starting, I think, from when I wasn't much older than the kids in it) that I was worried I'd find yet another iteration kind of boring. But it'd been quite a while, and I find I came to it with interestingly fresh eyes this time. It's so easy, now, to compare the playroom of the story to the internet of today, and to regard the admonishment that the kids need, to use the modern parlance, to touch grass as downright prescient. On the other hand, from the vantage point of 2024, the housewife complaining that there's not enough to do because all she has to do is press buttons for everything seems downright laughable, and the parenting pendulum has swung so far from the attitudes that Bradbury is criticizing here (e.g. twelve- and thirteen-year-old kids being left so alone that their parents don't even notice when they come home past midnight) that that criticism seems a bit misaimed now. Still, it was definitely interesting to revisit, and the play version seems pretty effectively done.

To the Chicago Abyss: In a future world of ruined cities and lives both both materially and culturally impoverished, an old man remembers all the insignificant minutia of former existence, even though it's mortally dangerous to do so. This is shortest of the three plays, and I think, the strangest. I also found it perhaps the most affecting. Even as my rational mind thinks that, y'know, maybe restoring a future full of commercial crap isn't the best thing for humanity to strive for, my emotions remain powerfully moved by the old man's hymns of praise to vanished candy bars and lounge chairs (although maybe not so much the cigarettes). ( )

Las peripecias de seis mexicanos que hallan el remedio al tedio, el bochorno y la frustración en un traje de verano. El pintoresco encuentro en Chicago entre un punk y un anciano donde la hostilidad inicial se transforma en emociones inolvidables. Y la guardería del futuro: una prodigiosa habitación donde todos los deseos de los niños se hacen realidad.

Indeholder "Introduction", "The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit", "The Veldt", "To the Chicago Abyss".

"Introduction" handler om Ray Bradbury's barndom, hvor han allerede i gymnasiet skrev stykker. Ifølge ham selv var de så dårlige at selv kammeraterne ikke ville sige hvor dårlige de var. Men han har altid elsket teatret og læst og set et stort antal teaterstykker, før han selv turde prøve igen.
"The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit" handler om seks mænd, Martinez, Villanazul, Manulo, Dominguez, Vaminos og Gomez, der går sammen om at købe en flot habit til 60$. Det kan kun lade sig gøre, fordi Gomez omhyggeligt har fundet de fire andre, som har samme højde, drøjde og kropsbygning som han selv. Den første aften får de den hver en halv time. Gomez har fortrudt at tage Vaminos med, for er han ikke lidt af en klodsmajor? Vil han ikke ødelægge habitten? Gomez, Manulo, Dominguez, Villanazul og til sidst Martinez går ud i byen og får en fantastisk oplevelse med den flødeis-farvede habit. Efter midnat er det så Vaminos, der lige skal skrubbes ren inden han får lov. Da han er kommet udenfor døren og den er lukket, tager han sit lommetørklæde frem og river det midtover. De andre forfærdes over lyden og synes ikke det er en god spøg. Vaminos går ned på en berygtet bar og kommer i dårligt selskab. De andre holder øje med ham og forsøger at redde ham ud af et slagsmål, men de bliver selv lakket godt til. Ude på gaden bliver Vaminos kørt ned, mens han har habitten på. Den kommer ikke noget til, men Vaminos må bytte tøj med de andre for at ambulancefolkene ikke skal klippe i habitten. Villanazul kører med i ambulancen og de fire andre står tilbage. De renser og stryger habitten, så den er frisk og ny igen. På vej hjem møder José Martinez den unge kvinde Celia Obregon. Hun har lagt mærke til ham da han havde habitten på, men fortæller ham at han ikke behøver den. Han går tilbage til de andre og de nyder at have habitten og tænke på alt det, de vil gøre. Og at det er synd, hvis de bliver rige og derfor alle har deres egen habit.
"The Veldt" handler om et legeværelse med indbygget savanne, børnene er helt afhængige af det, så da George og Lydia Hadley vil flytte, sørger Wendy og Peter for at vise dem hvad legeværelset kan.
"To the Chicago Abyss" handler om ???

Historierne her er præsenteret som teaterstykker til opførelse af "The Pandemonium Theatre Company". Bogen her har stempler fra "The Second-Hand English Book Store", Mørks gade 7 i Aarhus. Og bagerst er der en lomme til lånerkortet for Hendrick Hudson, Free Library, Montrose, N. Y. 10545. ( )