| Natural Affection | |
|---|---|
| Written by | William Inge |
| Directed by | Tony Richardson |
| Date premiered | January 31, 1963 |
| Place premiered | Booth Theatre |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | drama |
| Setting | Chicago. December, 1962. |
Natural Affection is a 1963 American play by William Inge. [1] [2] Inge wrote in his foreword to the play that it had been "been contested, praised, disputed, and criticized. In many cases, the violence of the criticisms has surpassed the violence of the play. But the play has also won enough esteem to convince me that its writing was not a waste of time." [3]
Sue Baker lives in an apartment in Chicago with her boyfriend, Bernie Slovenk. She is visited by her son Donnie who she gave up at birth but has maintained relations with. Donnie's visit coincides with Bernie losing his job. Matters build to a shocking murder.
Inge later wrote than with the play:
I tried to find some release from the tension I felt living in the late fifties and early sixties, when the newspapers were so full of violence that the morning headlines were an assault upon one’s breakfast digestion. Violence seemed to fill the atmosphere of American cities in outbreaks of the most bizarre and irrational killings and acts of desperation I had ever heard of. They shocked and horrified me; yet, I felt I understood them and felt a motivation for them. [4]
According to Inge's biographer, "the critics felt almost unanimously that the first half of the play, which had a satisfactory pace and in which suspense was well built, was severely weakened and to a large extent negated by the sensationalism in the latter half." [5]
Inge later called the play "five years ahead of its time". [6]