If: A Play in Four Acts

"If: A Play in Four Acts" by Lord Dunsany is a dramatic play written in the early 20th century. The play delves into themes of choice, consequence, and the nature of reality through its exploration of time and fate. The primary character, John Beal, is presented with a crystal that possess...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Dunsany, Lord, 1878-1957
Format: eBook
Published: Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg, 1998
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1311
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100 1 |a Dunsany, Lord,  |d 1878-1957 
245 1 0 |a If: A Play in Four Acts 
264 1 |a Salt Lake City, UT :  |b Project Gutenberg,  |c 1998 
300 |a 1 online resource :  |b multiple file formats 
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508 |a Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer, and David Widger 
520 |a "If: A Play in Four Acts" by Lord Dunsany is a dramatic play written in the early 20th century. The play delves into themes of choice, consequence, and the nature of reality through its exploration of time and fate. The primary character, John Beal, is presented with a crystal that possesses the power to let him revisit his past and potentially alter decisions, leading to introspective conflicts about his life and relationships. At the start of the play, we are introduced to John Beal and his wife, Mary, who reside in a modest suburban home. The narrative opens at a small railway station where John is prevented from boarding a train due to a railway worker named Bill, leading to John's frustration and unresolved feelings about an important missed opportunity. The scene shifts to John’s home, where he reflects on this event and interacts with Mary, discussing mundane matters that reveal their domestic life. A significant twist occurs when John encounters Ali, who gifts him the mystical crystal, presenting the possibility of altering his past—specifically, his decision to catch a train a decade earlier. This sets the stage for John's inner turmoil and the consequences of his choices, as Mary warns him against tampering with the past, highlighting the play's central theme of wrestling with the allure of making different choices. (This is an automatically generated summary.) 
534 |n Original publication data not identified 
653 |a English drama 
856 4 0 |u https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1311 
952 |a ON  |c PG  |y EB 
999 |c PG1311