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The Darker Face of the Earth

Rita Dove
Chapters (27)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Half-Title Page
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Dedication
  7. Cast
  8. Prologue
  9. Act One
  10. Scene 2
  11. Scene 3
  12. Scene 4
  13. Scene 5
  14. Scene 6
  15. Scene 7
  16. Scene 8
  17. Act Two
  18. Scene 2
  19. Scene 3
  20. Scene 4
  21. Scene 5
  22. Scene 6
  23. Scene 7
  24. Scene 8
  25. An Interview with Rita Dove
  26. Biographical Note
  27. Back Cover

Front Cover

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MORE PRAISE FOR THE DARKER FACE OF THE EARTH

A major American play . . . With skill that approaches a celestial gift, Dove blends form, subject and content.

—The Mail Tribune

[Dove’s] first venture into playwriting has produced an enormously powerful and beautiful work. The themes are intricate, the main characters full-bodied and the language—oh, the language—nothing short of stunning.

—CurtainUp

Playwright Dove merges folklore, voodoo ritual and biblical analogy with biting social commentary. The action is suspenseful, the dialogue picturesque.

—Variety

The Darker Face of the Earth marks a considerable achievement . . . This powerful exploration of sexual and racial tensions is assembled in an imaginative realm, with few technical requirements.

—Harvard Review

Lushly written, ingeniously plotted, drenched in antebellum atmosphere, The Darker Face of the Earth has lots of soul.

—The Guardian (England)

Sophocles and slavery come together with bitter poignancy . . . By connecting the issue of slavery to one of the most fundamental Greek tragedies, The Darker Face of the Earth draws its own inescapable conclusion about the impact of an immoral institution.

—The Baltimore Sun

Black theatre takes a big step forward.

—The Stage

A strong and ambitious piece of work . . . [Dove] does one of the hardest things to do onstage, something maybe only a poet could—she creates in Augustus a living metaphor . . . [He] is not only Oedipus here, but Hamlet and Moses, and all the Greek heroes unlucky enough to be half-mortal and half-God . . . Throughout the play, the transference of the legend from ancient Greece to the antebellum South works surprisingly well . . . [Dove’s] scenes are shaped with ease and grace; her dialogue, even when poetic, is expressive; and she has a vivid sense of character.

—The Washington Post

. . . the play’s selectivity of incident, judicious sparseness, clean lines, even dignified tone and simple staging keep it operating successfully as a modernization of the classic Greek tragic mode.

—The Women’s Review of Books

. . . [this] play begs to be staged. One can dream a little and wish that it could be produced in every city, every school in the country.

—The Times (Trenton, NJ)

[Rita Dove’s] riveting and accomplished play . . . should have a permanent place in the repertoire of the American theater.

—The Star-Ledger

Half-Title Page

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Title Page

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Copyright Page

The Darker Face of the Earth

Copyright © 1994, 1996, 2000, 2022 by Rita Dove

Fourth Edition layout by Daniela Connor

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of both the publisher and the copyright owner.

e-ISBN 978-1-58654-051-7

ISBN 978-1-58654-119-4 (tradepaper)

978-1-58654-120-0 (casebound)