Black Comedy is often performed with another Peter Shaffer one-act, The White Liars, to form the double-bill of The White Liars and Black Comedy. The two plays are published together.
The White Liars was first performed in 1967 under the title White Lies, with the original Broadway production of Black Comedy. It was billed as a "curtain-raiser" to Black Comedy. Peter Shaffer retitled the play for subsequent productions.
The White Liars is shorter than Black Comedy. It concerns a down-on-her-luck fortune teller living in a decaying seaside resort, and the two young men—Tom, the lead singer in a rock band, and Frank, his business manager—who consult her. It is more serious fare than its farcical counterpart.
Read more about this topic: Black Comedy (play)
Famous quotes containing the word white:
“the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer,”
—Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)