Red Devil

One-Acts 20

By: Arthur Reel
Cast: 1 M, 4 F, 1 flexible
Performance Time: Approximately 30 minutes, 28 pgs.

DRAMA. This adaptation captures Maxim Gorky’s stark, naturalistic rendering of five people locked in a dehumanizing system of oppression and violence. Set in a house of prostitution, three women suffer savage beatings inflicted by the sadistic, Red, a man employed by the proprietress to keep the girls in line. But when Red falls off a trolley and breaks his leg, he finds himself at the mercy of his victims. The women are overjoyed to see their tormentor injured and revel in their new-found power. Maska tries to convince the other women to murder Red before his leg heals, but Red’s merciful pleas and promises that he will no longer beat the girls evokes pity in Aksinya.

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Arthur Reel founded the Drama Repertory Theatre in 1973 and has co-produced more than 200 shows, many of which he directed. Mr. Reel has adapted for the stage many prose classics, including Voltaire’s Candide and works by Gogol, Gorky, and Chekhov. He currently resides in New York City, where he teaches acting, voice, and communications.