Dangerous
Corner begins with seven friends gathered in the sitting room
after a dinner party. They seem a cheerful, friendly bunch. However,
things are not quite as they seem. One of the group is absent,
and has been since his unexpected suicide a year ago. He is very
much in their thoughts today, and a dark undercurrent runs through
the seemingly light conversation.
A chance comment sets off a chain of questions
and recrimination and the play, which may have seemed rather
light-hearted, proceeds to unravel their relationships with
frightening speed. Who has lied, and why? How much do these
friends really know about each other? What really did happen
on the night of Martin’s
death? Might the inquest’s verdict of suicide have been
a mistake? Might it actually have been murder?
One of the characters likens the situation
to “being in
a car when the brakes are gone … and there are crossroads
and corners ahead.”
Although nearly eighty
years old, the play’s themes are
as relevant today as when it was first presented to packed houses
and great acclaim in the 1930s. Dangerous
Corner is about those
moments where your life turns a corner when you least expect
it, and will never be the same again.
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