The Dying Gaul at Island City Stage

Playwright Craig Lucas, whose most familiar work is “Prelude to a Kiss”, has written a modern American tragedy pivoting on the dramatic potential of the Internet - a blank slate where one can pretend to be anyone, though not without consequence. Lucas has written a story of uncommon emotional depth and subtlety in which failed redemption curdles into revenge. With breathtaking speed, our protagonist is caught in a love triangle with a powerful, ruthless and rapacious film producer and his fascinating but woefully under stimulated wife; and the anonymous internet chat room where he visits to find comfort and sex becomes a haunting nightmare that ignites a shocking finale.