MEMBER OF THE WEDDING, THE

by McCullers, Carson

Out of the poignant loneliness of adolescence and the strange bond between black and white in the American south of the 1940s, Carson McCullers fashioned one of the most beautiful plays of a generation based on her own powerful novel. Jarvis and Janice are about to be married, but Jarvis’ young sister Frankie begins to act crazy as the wedding day approaches. Motherless since birth, Frankie convinces herself that she will run away with the bride and groom. Despite the wisdom and advice offered by the family’s cook Berenice, Frankie’s conviction continues to grow with near-tragic consequences.

Beneath its gentle surface there’s the lurking violence about to rock the USA as the civil rights movement takes shape. And underneath the bucolic torpor of summertime in a small southern town, there’s a young girl struggling to become a woman - and a woman watching the best time of her life slipping by.

Carson McCullers adapted The Member of the Wedding from her novel of the same name. Her other works include The Ballad of the Sad Café, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, The Square Root of Wonderful and Sucker.