History Theatre / TheSkinOfOurTeeth

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Most of them are bit parts, but there's still a lot of them.

''The Skin of Our Teeth'' is a 1942 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Creator/ThorntonWilder, a writer most famous for his other play, ''Theatre/OurTown''. It follows the Antrobus family through thousands of years of existence, moving from an ice age to the biblical Flood to the aftermath of a war much like World War II but worse, mostly without leaving the fictional suburban town of Excelsior, New Jersey. The main characters--George and Maggie Antrobus, their children Henry and Gladys, and maid Sabina--are frequently utilized as allegories for biblical figures and archetypes, and are visited by historical figures and mythical or historical events. Needless to say, the whole play is swimming in an AnachronismStew.

** In some ways, it's also a subversion; there is, after all, still a fourth wall of a sort, since all of the "breaks" are actually part of the play and all of the supposedly "real" people are actually another layer of characters. (See ShowWithinAShow)

* ParentalFavoritism: See DaddysGirl above.

* CainAndAbel: Henry and his unnamed elder brother, respectively. After killing his brother, Cain had his named changed to Henry by their parents to protect him from a bad reputation. Not that it did that much good.

The original Broadway production was directed by Creator/EliaKazan and featured Creator/FredricMarch and Creator/TallulahBankhead as George and Maggie Antrobus and Creator/MontgomeryClift (still six years away from his movie debut) as Henry.

* NoEnding: Most of the third act leads up to a confrontation between Henry and George, only for Miss Somerset (Sabina) to interrupt the scene just as they come to blows because the scene has escalated dangerously in the past. We never do learn what the outcome of that confrontation was.

** In some ways, it's also a subversion; there is, after all, still a fourth wall of a sort, since all of the "breaks" are actually part of the play and all of the supposedly "real" people are actually another layer of characters.

* NoFourthWall: Sabina, or rather the actress playing Sabina, is the main offender here, frequently complaining about and apologizing for the ridiculousness of the play and even refusing to play the scene in the second act where she attempts to seduce George Antrobus away from his wife. When she describes her objection to the scene because she knew a woman whose husband was seduced in a similar manner, a plant in the audience actually starts crying and runs out. And then of course, there's the stage manager who keeps appearing, and... well, there's really too much to list here.

The original Broadway production was directed by Creator/EliaKazan and featured Creator/FredricMarch.

* DaddysGirl: Because Henry is forever tainted in his father's eyes [[spoiler: by the murder of his elder brother]], most of Mr. Antrobus' affection is spent on his daughter Gladys.

''The Skin of Our Teeth'' is a 1942 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Creator/ThorntonWilder, better known for ''Theatre/OurTown''. It follows the Antrobus family through thousands of years of existence, moving from an ice age to the biblical Flood to the aftermath of a war much like World War II but worse, mostly without leaving the fictional suburban town of Excelsior, New Jersey. The main characters--George and Maggie Antrobus, their children Henry and Gladys, and maid Sabina--are frequently utilized as allegories for biblical figures and archetypes, and are visited by historical figures and mythical or historical events. Needless to say, the whole play is swimming in an AnachronismStew.

* OurActsAreDifferent: Like ''OurTown'', the play is in three acts of roughly the same length, with {{Intermission}} taken between each.

''The Skin Of Our Teeth'' is a 1942 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Thornton Wilder, better known for ''Theatre/OurTown''. It follows the Antrobus family through thousands of years of existence, moving from an ice age to the biblical Flood to the aftermath of a war much like World War II but worse, mostly without leaving the fictional suburban town of Excelsior, New Jersey. The main characters--George and Maggie Antrobus, their children Henry and Gladys, and maid Sabina--are frequently utilized as allegories for biblical figures and archetypes, and are visited by historical figures and mythical or historical events. Needless to say, the whole play is swimming in an AnachronismStew.

''The Skin Of Our Teeth'' is a 1942 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Thornton Wilder, better known for ''OurTown''. It follows the Antrobus family through thousands of years of existence, moving from an ice age to the biblical Flood to the aftermath of a war much like World War II but worse, mostly without leaving the fictional suburban town of Excelsior, New Jersey. The main characters--George and Maggie Antrobus, their children Henry and Gladys, and maid Sabina--are frequently utilized as allegories for biblical figures and archetypes, and are visited by historical figures and mythical or historical events. Needless to say, the whole play is swimming in an AnachronismStew.

This play provides examples of:
* AbusiveParents (George Antrobus has no qualms about hitting his son Henry, especially when he's in a temper.)
* AnachronismStew (Almost too many examples in the first two acts to list, but here's a good one from Act I: Despite the fact that George Antrobus just invented the alphabet recently, a poem by Longfellow is referenced. And then there's the fact that while the world is in the midst of one of the ice ages--Mammoths and all--the U.S. and all its cities exist in full, as do modern houses. And yet Moses and Homer and some Muses come to the Antrobus house seeking shelter from a glacier.)
* CainAndAbel (Henry and his unnamed elder brother, respectively. After killing his brother, Cain had his named changed to Henry by their parents to protect him from a bad reputation. Not that it did that much good...)
* DaddysGirl (Because Henry is forever tainted in his father's eyes [[spoiler: by the murder of his elder brother]], most of Mr. Antrobus' affection is spent on his daughter Gladys.)
* {{Delinquents}} (Henry, although this just scratches the surface of his character.)
* FortuneTeller (One figures prominently in the second act, frequently visited by Sabina and also repeatedly trying to warn everyone that the great flood is coming.)
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters (Most of them are bit parts, but there's still a lot of them.)
* MamaBear (Mrs. Antrobus, who'd "see us all laid out dead" if it would spare her children any discomfort.)
* NoFourthWall (Sabina, or rather the actress playing Sabina, is the main offender here, frequently complaining about and apologizing for the ridiculousness of the play and even refusing to play the scene in the second act where she attempts to seduce George Antrobus away from his wife. When she describes her objection to the scene because she knew a woman whose husband was seduced in a similar manner, a plant in the audience actually starts crying and runs out. And then of course, there's the stage manager who keeps appearing, and... well, there's really too much to list here.)
* OffingTheOffspring (A huge part of Act III, [[spoiler: when George and Henry have come home from war as leaders of opposing armies.]])
* OurActsAreDifferent (Like ''OurTown'', the play is in three acts of roughly the same length, with {{Intermission}} taken between each.)
* ParentalFavoritism (See DaddysGirl above.)
* ShowWithinAShow (Directly connected to NoFourthWall, the show is framed as actors (who therefore are themselves fictional characters) in a performance of ''The Skin of Our Teeth''. It comes to the fore in the beginning of Act III, where several of the actors have come down with food poisoning and are replaced in a symbolic time-filling scene by members of the backstage crew.)

* TitleDrop (Sabina in the first act. It's part of a cue line that the actress playing Mrs. Antrobus is supposed to enter on, but doesn't, bringing about the first major breaking of the FourthWall by the character.)
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic (All over the place. Here's to start you off: the name "Antrobus" comes from the Greek for "human" or "person". Good luck unraveling all the other symbolism.)
* WorldOfNoGrandparents (As much notice as is given to family relations, the only mention of a grandparent is a brief reference by Mr. Antrobus to his parents.)

* CainAndAbel (Henry and his unnamed elder brother, respectively. After killing his brother, Cain had his named changed to Henry by their parents to protect him from a bad reputation. [[ItGotWorse Not that it did that much good...]])

* ItGotWorse (And then somehow better. A major theme of the play is that the human race is in a cycle, constantly rebuilding and destroying itself in various degrees.)

* MindScrew (To some people. YourMileageMayVary, of course.)