Rip Van Winkle

Play script. Hilarious and wholesome comedy. Here is Irving's beloved old Rip Van Winkle, loafing in front of the Inn, and clopping through a funny Dutch jig with his friends. He is such a jolly man, it is hard to understand how his wife can scold and abuse him so - until Rip is finally driven out into the storm, leaving his little girl Judy crying out after him. Then, on the still, shadowy mountain, Rip stumbles onto six queer little men, bowling with nine-pins, and they lead Rip a merry horn-pipe dance over the rocks and give him a drink from their own private brew. As the storm swells, they all caper gleefully about, until Rip finally drops from weariness, and the queer little men are lost in the shadows, and a flash of lightning reveals only a tired old Dutchman sleeping through the storm. When Rip returns to the village, twenty years later, he attracts a curious crowd of villagers who are strange to him; as he tries to make himself recognized, the play reaches a moving, but still comic climax. Cast of 4 women, 9 men, 7 children, 6 dwarves, villagers. 2 sets. Colonial and Dutch costumes.