Today’s podcast features the cast of Fever Dream’s production of “Beautiful Child” written by Nicky Silver.

In this Philadelphia premier presented by Fever Dream Repertory, Beautiful Child tells the story of Harry and Nan, a middle-aged couple losing their grip on the tattered remains of their marriage. Their beloved grown son Isaac arrives for what they believe to be a brief visit home but he surprises them with the request to come home on a more long-term basis. Then he tells them why: he needs them to hide him because it’s possible that his latest love affair may be publicly revealed. A “love affair,” as he calls it, with an eight-year-old boy.

Nicky Silver’s play does not settle for easy answers or obvious solutions. Isaac does not see himself as a pedophile, just a gay man in love with a boy who loves him back. Harry and Nan struggle with the shock of the revelation, the horror at the their son’s act of molestation, and growing guilt at what they think might be their own culpability. And the final question remains: how do they protect this son they love so much and still prevent him from repeating his monstrously predatory actions?

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