The Inheritance is a two-part play by American playwright Matthew López. It is inspired by the novel Howards End, and premiered in London in 2018. The production transferred to Broadway in 2019.
The play is about a multigenerational group of contemporary gay Manhattanites. The audience is first introduced to Jewish activist Eric Glass and his flamboyant writer boyfriend Toby Darling. Eric and Toby are friends with a wealthy older couple, Walter Poole and Henry Wilcox, as well as a younger actor, Adam. Eric has kept the secret of their impending eviction from the apartment from Toby, which spurs him to connect with Walter and Henry. The play explores the wake of the AIDS crisis on gay New Yorkers and their rapidly changing cultural scene, what older generations can leave behind for younger ones, and what younger generations can learn from older ones.
The original cast is comprised of Kyle Soller as Eric, Andrew Burnap as Toby, Samuel H Levine as Adam/Leo, Paul Hilton as Walter/Morgan, and John Benhamin Hickey as Henry.
An audiobook adaptation of the play was released on Audible in 2023.
Not to be confused with the play Inheritance.
Tropes:
- Camp Gay: In contrast to his more serious intellectual boyfriend/fiance Eric, Toby is a flamboyant and charismatic playwright.
- Dead Person Conversation: Part One ends on Eric meeting the ghosts of gay men lost to AIDS in Walter and Henry's old house.
- Double-Meaning Title: The play's title The Inheritance can refer to Eric's literal inheritance (the country house Walter leaves him) and more broadly, to generational trauma and lessons.
- Historical Domain Character: Writer E. M. Forster is a character in the play ("Morgan"), who lampshades the show's similar structure to that of his work. He also represents the pre-LGBT rights movement generations of men who hid their sexuality due to much more overt societal homophobia.
- Significant Double Casting:
- E. M. Forster, the fourth-wall-breaking narrative steerer of the first act, and Walter, one of the play's older gay "mentors" are played by the same actor.
- Both of Toby's ill-advised partners (Adam and Leo) are played by the same actor, who gets a scene where he switches between roles.
- The Smurfette Principle: The play is about several gay men and one woman, Margaret.
- Tragic AIDS Story: The play is about the leftovers of the New York AIDS crisis, which Walter and Henry directly experienced. Eric learns that they used to take men dying of AIDS to the home upstate to comfort them as they passed.
- Write What You Know: In-Universe, Toby has written a play based on his memoirs.
