Child's Play

by Robert Marasco

Something is amiss in a Catholic boys' boarding school. The students have become sinister, furtive, and conspiratorial as they steal up and down staircases after hours.

Genres: Horror, Plays, Theatre

110 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1970

About the author

Robert Marasco was born in the Bronx in 1936 and educated at Regis High School in Manhattan and Fordham University. A classical scholar, Marasco taught at Regis before turning to writing, with Child’s Play, an eerie melodrama about incidents of evil at a Catholic boys’ school. The play was a surprise success in 1970, running for 343 performances on Broadway and earning a Tony Award nomination for best play of the year, and was adapted for a 1972 film.

Marasco also wrote two novels: Burnt Offerings (1973) and Parlor Games (1979). Burnt Offerings was a bestseller and spawned a 1976 film adaptation directed by Dan Curtis and starring Oliver Reed, Karen Black, and Bette Davis.

Marasco died of lung cancer in 1998.

Reviews

[Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm obsessed with Robert Marasco. Between this and "Burnt Offerings," I'm on cloud nine. It's heartbreaking how little of this man's writing made it's way to print. Just re-read this play for the first time in a couple years. Man, I still love it. This and The Crucible would make for a great double-bill. Has anybody ever seen the film-version of this? Does anybody have a copy? I'm dying to watch it...

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

[Warning: mild spoiler-ish elements ahead!]

This was a surprise hit on Broadway back in 1970, garnering rave reviews, a Tony nomination for Best Play, winning five others (two for acting, three for craft elements), running almost a year, and being adapted into an obscure film a few years later, starring James Mason and Robert Preston. It remains Marasco's only play, although he also wrote two novels his Burnt Offerings also getting a film treatment.

It's a decidedly odd duck and hasn't aged well - I doubt it's been revived at all in several decades. It concerns the nefarious doings in a Catholic boy's school, in which some sort of mass hysteria is causing random acts of violence amongst the student population, with indications that perhaps demonic possession is in play. It turns out that two of the lay teachers have been feuding for over a decade, with one tormenting the other over his supposed repressed homosexuality. It doesn't end well for any of them.

[Cristiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is difficult to read a play and visualize it on stage (for me at least), but unfortunately there are no recordings of the Broadway performances of 1970, or at the West End the following year, or of any other performances for that matter. The 1972 film by Sidney Lumet based on it is no great help as the original script was expanded and the mystery explained (not to talk about the appalling performance of the protagonist, Beau Bridges). Child's Play describes the unprecedented and sudden violence that explodes among students at a Catholic school and how the priests and the lay teachers deal with it. The reasons behind it are never explained and it is left to the audience to unravel the mystery. It is an interesting play, but not particularly absorbing, at least on paper. I suspect the effect would be very different on stage.

[Ann]

Hardbound

[Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm just discovering Marasco's writing. This script seems Rod Serling- inspired, with stage action playing at least as strong a role as dialog.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this play when I was 7 or 8 because my brother played McArdle in a summer stock presentation. Freaked me out then, and still manages to be a pretty creepy read.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very odd play. It doesn't seem to be able to decide if it wants to be a supernatural thriller or straight drama so it doesn't really succeed at either. There's a lot of interesting scenes and good ideas, but it never comes together in a coherent whole.

This takes place at a 50s Catholic boys school. Something very strange is happening among the boys with hints of demonic possession and the boys committing seemingly random unprovoked and increasingly violent attacks on each other. Against this backdrop two teachers who have been rivals for years-one a rigid and harsh disciplinarian and the other the popular teacher all the boys love-fight for supremacy and really, control of the school in practice if not in title. The increasingly tense atmosphere finally erupts in a way that might have been shocking when the play was first produced, but now comes off predictable.

In any case, the problem is that the two stories don't resolve satisfactorily. The play can't decide if the story is about the two teachers or about the boys' possession and the boy's actions are never explained. Was there a supernatural and/or demonic influence? Were the teachers egging the boys on and the events are completely natural? It could be the author's intention was to leave it up to the audience, but if so he did not pull that off, he just left the play feeling unfinished and ultimately pointless. Had it's moments, but overall a failure.

[William Harris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Underwhelming. A surprise hit when first, and I can why that was a surprise. Catholic boys’ prep school setting, a crabby old guard instructor (who tunes out to be a closet case), other teachers (some priests, some not), and a slew of students among which a few disturbing violent incidents arise. Is it possession, evil influence? Is it a well-liked teacher’s campaign of harassment against the closeted gay, crusty traditionalist teacher spreading bad energy that erupts in violence? If it’s demonic evil of some sort, the play way soft pedals that, the students are barely present and, before we know any of them at all, they’re savaging each other, mostly offstage. The dynamics of old and younger teachers takes up too much time in this short play. The surprise is that one of the priests or the Church isn’t the culprit.

I know Marasco is beloved for his novel BURNT OFFERING. I don’t remember the novel, but film is honestly boring/a mess—but then I’m about the only person I know who isn’t smitten with the film through unquestioned nostalgia.

But my experience of this play suggests that BURNT OFFERINGS might well be style—and not much of that—over substance. The play wants to do a lot, but fails. And I’m not sure it knew in the first place.

[Brian McCann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was one of my friend Tom's favorite plays. So dark and melodramatic. Not sure that it wraps up so tightly in the end. How does the evil pervade the culture? What changes the boys? A good production would be thrilling to watch. Hopefully I'll get to see the 1972 film.

[Bobby Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odd play. Vaguely menacing throughout. Not really sure about the whole supernatural undertone, but the mood is certainly creepy and effective.