The Shrike

New York: Random House. Very Good+ in Very Good dj. (c.1952). First Edition. Hardcover. [lower corners lightly bumped, tiny crack in top edge of front cover; jacket age-toned (typical with RH published plays of this era), browned and lightly stained along spine, a couple of tiny tears and edges and corners]. (B&W photographs) Pulitzer Prize-winning drama (the playwright's first produced play), set in the mental ward of a city hospital, about a theatre director who's been driven crazy -- literally -- to the verge suicide by his bitter, manipulative estranged wife, who's a complete sweetheart to everybody else but him. Jose Ferrer and Judith Evelyn played the not-at-all happy couple in the original Broadway production; Ferrer directed and starred in the 1955 film adaptation, opposite June Allyson (playing very much against type). .