Big Love

Play

Writers: Charles L. Mee

Overview

Show Information

Category
Play
Number of Acts
1
First Produced
2000
Genres
Dark Comedy
Time & Place
A terrace in a huge villa on the West Coast of Italy
Cast Size
medium
Ideal for
College/University, Community Theatre, Diverse Cast, Large Cast, Regional Theatre
Casting Notes
Mostly male cast
Includes young adult, adult, elderly, mature adult characters

Synopsis

On a terrace in an extravagant villa in Italy, a mysterious woman has appeared in a bathtub. A young man named Giuliano questions her and discovers that she is one of 50 sisters who have escaped Greece, fleeing from arranged marriages to their 50 cousins. The sisters are seeking asylum in Italy and hope that this powerful Italian family can help them. The sister in the bathtub, Lydia, is joined by two more of her sisters, Thyona and Olympia (the rest are on an enormous boat), and the three women beg the patriarch of the home, Piero, for his help. He decides to help them, but then 3 of the 50 male cousins enter by helicopter, searching for their missing brides. The story becomes a battle of male vs. female and traditionalism vs. feminism. Answers to questions become more complicated and rifts begin to form between the women. When Thyona recommends that they marry the men but then kill them immediately, her sisters have to decide whether to stick with the pack...or follow their hearts.

Lead Characters


Big Love guide sections