Beast With Two Backs

by Don Nigro

In Greenwich Village in the late 1920s Al, an artist, moves into a rooming house on Macdougal Street and finds himself being pulled deeper and deeper into the lives of its inhaants. Above him live Mary Margaret, a lost actress from Ohio, and her philandering poet boyfriend, Jem. Al meets Mary Margaret when she comes home drunk one night and blunders into his bed. He falls in love with her. The landlord, McLish, keeps bursting into Al's room to help him with his romance. McLish, a failed writer, has his own a beautiful but compulsively disloyal wife. And somebody keeps playing "The Saint James Infirmary Blues." Al's attempt to rescue Mary Margaret is the core of this richly atmospheric love story which vividly recreates the world of artists and writers in this era. (Mary Margaret also appears in his Anima Mundi and Laestrygonians.) In Pendragon Plays. $75 per performance.

85 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting look at New York in the late 20s and the people this city can find. We are the makers of our own evil, whether we choose to accept it or not. Those who will not listen, cannot be helped.