Friedrich Durrrenmatt: The Visit

 I found this piece to be hilariously entertaining.  The comic possibilities were leaping off the page, and I found it very eaasy to visualize a directorial approach that would have the audience rolling in the aisles.  Unlike The Physicists, the comedy was mostly situational, and wouldn't depend entirely on the comedic chops of the leads.  Sadly, Durrenmatt was not content to write something at once astute and hilarious.  He had to tack on an ending that felt disjointed and didactic.  How much better this play would have been if that last scene followed the tone of the rest of the piece, instead of lapsing into Greek rhetoric of the most obvious and tedious sort.  I would have much preferred it if Ill, the protagonist (?) was spared at the last minute, and then unceremoniously dispatched by the panther that had been prowling around ominously for the bulk of the play. What a great piece it would have been then!  In fact, maybe I'll do a quicky rewrite if I'm ever called upon to direct it . . .