| The Miracle Worker | |
|---|---|
| Written by | William Gibson |
| Characters | Annie Sullivan Helen Keller Kate Keller James Keller Anagnos Captain Keller Viney |
| Date premiered | October 19, 1959 |
| Place premiered | Playhouse Theatre |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | |
| Genre | |
| Setting | Tuscumbia, Alabama |
| IBDB profile | |
The Miracle Worker is a three-act play by William Gibson adapted from his 1957 Playhouse 90 teleplay of the same name. It is based on Helen Keller's autobiography The Story of My Life.
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In Tuscumbia, Alabama, an illness renders infant Helen Keller blind, deaf, and consequently mute (deaf-mute)[1]. Pitied and badly spoiled by her parents, she learns no discipline and grows into a wild, raging creature by the age of six. Desperate, the Kellers hire Anne Sullivan to serve as a governess and teacher for their young daughter. After several fierce battles with Helen, Anne convinces her parents she needs two weeks alone with her if she is to achieve any progress in her education. In that time, she teaches her discipline and language through the use of her fingers, a breakthrough that has a direct effect on everyone's life and the way they live it.
The play premiered on Broadway at the Playhouse Theatre on October 19, 1959 and closed on July 1, 1961 after 719 performances. The production was directed by Arthur Penn with scenic and lighting design by George Jenkins and costumes by Ruth Morley. The cast starred Anne Bancroft as Anne Sullivan and Patty Duke as Helen Keller. Featured in the cast were Torin Thatcher as Captain Keller, Patricia Neal as Kate Keller, Michael Constantine as Anagnos and Beah Richards as Viney. Patty Duke remained with the play for its entire run. Suzanne Pleshette eventually replaced Anne Bancroft.
The play was first produced in the West End in March 1961 with Anna Massey as Sullivan and Janina Faye as Keller. It transferred to Wyndham's Theatre in May of the same year. A revival was produced at Wyndham's Theatre on August 31, 1994 and closed on October 8.[2] The production was directed by Richard Olivier and Bill Kenwright. The cast featured Catherine Holman as Keller, Jenny Seagrove as Sullivan, William Gaunt as Captain Keller, Judi Bowker as Kate Keller, and Michael Thornton as Anagnos.
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the play, it was revived on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre, opening on March 3, 2010. Directed by Kate Whoriskey, the cast starred Alison Pill as Sullivan and Abigail Breslin as Keller. The cast featured Matthew Modine as Captain Keller, Jennifer Morrison as Kate Keller, Tobias Segal as James Keller, and Elizabeth Franz as Aunt Ev. Despite critical praise, the revival failed to find an audience and closed on April 4, 2010 (after 21 previews and 38 regular performances), with the entire $2,600,000 capitalization in the project being lost.[3][4]
In May 2011, Duke continued her career-long involvement with the play by directing a production of it at Interplayers Theatre in Spokane, Washington, near her Idaho home.[5]
Time called the original production "a story that, however well known, acquires stunning new reality and affectingness on the stage. The overwhelming force of the play's crucial scenes could not have derived from the stirring facts alone, nor from Playwright Gibson's vivid use of them. What proves decisive is the extraordinary performances, the magnificent teamwork of Anne Bancroft and ten-year-old Patty Duke, and the brilliant direction of Arthur Penn." While noting some of the play's flaws, particularly in the areas of "some knotty Keller family relationships and some eerie Sullivan family memories," which it characterized as "fairly makeshift, at times clumsy, and, when sound-tracking voices from the past, occasionally embarrassing," it praised the scenes that "in the hands of two remarkable actresses, constitute unforgettable theater." [6]
The New York Times in its review titled "Giver of Light" also praised the "glorious performance" of Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke's "wonderfully truthful and touching" performance as Helen, along with those of Patricia Neal and Torin Thatcher as Helen's parents. While finding similar flaws in the narrative structure of the play, it praised the play as "profoundly moving" and noted that any of its failings did not "destroy the emotional power of the essential struggle in the drama."[7]
Gibson, Penn, Bancroft, and Duke reunited for a highly acclaimed 1962 film adaptation. Gibson and Penn were nominated for Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Penn for Best Director, and both Bancroft (portraying Sullivan) and Duke (portraying Keller) won the Academy Award for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively. The play has also been adapted for TV twice, first in 1979 on NBC with Duke as Sullivan and Melissa Gilbert as Keller, and again in 2000 on ABC (as part of The Wonderful World of Disney).
The Miracle Worker has been much referenced and parodied in popular culture.
In the 2006 movie Clerks II, the two lead characters argue because one of them has confused Helen Keller with Anne Frank.
The Summer Play Festival presented Esther Demsack in 2008, a comedy about a boy, Everette Brewster, and his governess. The comedy culminates in a parodic version of The Miracle Worker.
The television program South Park ran an episode in which the chief characters put on their own distinctive musical version of the story, featuring Timmy as Keller, and a trick-performing turkey to entertain the audience between acts.
In the series finale of The Suite Life on Deck, London learns Spanish through feeling things with her fingers and suddenly knowing the Spanish word for them such as pen, table, book, and feeling her teacher's face and calling her ugly.
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