Lost Lake

by David Auburn

An engrossing new drama from the author of Proof, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award
The lakeside rental cabin Veronica has managed to afford is a far cry from the idyllic getaway she and her children were planning. Exhausted from her life as a New York City nurse and by her troubled marriage, Veronica finds herself on vacation without any adult company except for Hogan, the disheveled property owner, who becomes more unreliable by the day. Hogan has problems of his own, problems that Veronica finds herself inevitably-and irrevocably-pulled into.
David Auburn's Lost Lake is a tense, carefully wrought drama about the surprising, complicated friendship formed by two very different people with no one else to turn to.

Genres: Plays

44 pages, Paperback

First published November 3, 2015

About the author

David Auburn is an American playwright, screenwriter, and theatre director. He is best known for his 2000 play Proof, which won the 2001 Tony Award for Best Play and Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Reviews

[Wt Prater · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good play with only two characters, excellent character development and very believable.

[DJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great stage play consisting of a story with only two characters.

Veronica is a big city "nurse" looking for a vacation getaway for her and her kids at the end of summer. She finds what one would say is a rustic cabin in the middle of a forest. Hogan has the perfect, affordable place.

The story starts off with that initial review of the location and the details of the stay. We jump forward into the vacation and events happening left and right. Hogan is a man with troubles. Veronica has her own troubles. They get minced and exchange words in a way that feels very tense. The arguments. And you realize one of them is living in their own world... or both of them.

It was a good read. The tension held throughout the story and didn't let go until the end. It did take some turns that I didn't expect, nor did it end as I wanted, but it was satisfactory and felt complete.

Definitely a 4 ⭐️ read, IMO.

[Kristen Lo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good character study. The plot is a little lacking, but I could see two awesome actors tearing it up on stage.

[Lee Bullitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very high on tension! Really felt for both characters. Hard to say for whom I felt the most.

[Ryan McClenning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely love the dynamic between these two complex and misunderstood characters. A play so simple with two characters and one setting manages to grab your attention and hold on for 68 pages.

[Paige Goodwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still v concerned that a kid almost drowned and everyone was so cavalier about it.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Auburn's charming, thoughtful, lovely little play is, for me, far more satisfying than PROOF. He weaves together beautifully and unexpectedly two very different lives and shows us how people can form a bond even when they couldn't seem more ill suited for one another. It's a story about compassion and self-awareness, about what we gain when we lower our guard, and in a fairly callous world (not to mention modern American theater scene) it's a refreshing change of pace and gloriously optimistic. The ending feels particularly earned, both in its kindness and in its reluctance to tie things up neatly. Kindness isn't tidy, usually the opposite, and I admire how this play embraces that instead of lamenting it.