Beautiful Child is a drama by American playwright Nicky Silver

Nicky Silver

Nicky Silver is an American playwright. Formerly of Philadelphia, he resides in New York City.As a teen, Silver attended Stagedoor Manor Performing Arts Training Center in upstate New York. He began writing after graduating from the New York University Theatre program. Many of his early plays...

. It premiered at the Vineyard Theatre in New York on February 24, 2004, in a production directed by Terry Kinney

Terry Kinney

Terry Kinney is an American actor and theatre director, and is a founding member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, with Gary Sinise and Jeff Perry.-Early life:...

 and with a cast led by George Grizzard

George Grizzard

George Cooper Grizzard, Jr. was an American actor of film and stage. He appeared in more than 40 films, dozens of television programs and a number of Broadway plays.-Life and career:...

 and Penny Fuller

Penny Fuller

Penny Fuller is an American actress.Born in Durham, North Carolina, Fuller attended Northwestern University in Illinois. She then went to New York City to make a name for herself on Broadway...

.

Plot

Harry and Nan, a middle-aged couple, are constantly at odds. Harry is having an affair with his emotionally unstable secretary. "Your secretary, Harry?" snipes Nan. "You're past cliché and into archetype." This tone of acid comedy is replaced, however, by deep anguish, when their adult son, Isaac, announces that he has fallen in love with a child. He wants to return home and live with his parents, who have to struggle between their love for him and their guilt and horror at his transgression. They finally come to a compromise, which is almost as shocking as Isaac's offense: he can live with them, but must be blinded first, to keep him from ever being attracted to another boy.

Critical response

Reviews were mixed. Most reviewers were struck by its similarity to Edward Albee

Edward Albee

Edward Franklin Albee III is an American playwright who is best known for The Zoo Story , The Sandbox , Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , and a rewrite of the screenplay for the unsuccessful musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's . His works are considered well-crafted, often...

's recent international success, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, and indeed, The Goat and Beautiful Child are similar in their explorations of sexual transgression in affluent domestic settings, as well as their edgy amalgams of comedy and horror. Some critics, like Adrienne Onofri, dismissed Silver's play as a poor imitation of Albee Others, like Simon Stoltzman, acknowldged the similarity to Albee's work, but found Silver's approach distinctive.

Penny Fuller and George Grizzard were widely praised for their performances. Reviewer Dan Bacalzo observed, "Grizzard has the uncanny ability to convey volumes with a murmured word or dismissive gesture."