The Visit

The Visit, by Swiss author and playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt, premiered in 1956 at the Schauspielhaus Zürich under the German title Der Besuch der alten Dame, or The Visit of the Old Lady. Dürrenmatt’s darkly comic satiric plays are credited with helping revitalize German theatre following World War II. His writing also reveals the influence of German playwright Bertolt Brecht, notably in Dürrenmatt’s use of parables: simple stories using human characters to illustrate a lesson or moral. One of the themes Dürrenmatt explores in The Visit is the corrupting power of money.  

The play, a tragicomedy in three acts, is Dürrenmatt’s most well-known and enduring work as a dramatist. The hugely successful 1958 Broadway debut starred the famous acting married couple Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne and was staged by famous English director Peter Brooks. The play has been widely adapted, as a 1964 Hollywood film, a 1971 German opera, a 1992 Senegalese film Hyenas, a 2001 musical by John Kander and Fred Ebb, and a 2020 version by American playwright Tony Kushner that ran in London.

This guide references the translation by Patrick Bowles published by Grove Press in 1990.

Plot Summary

The fictional small town of Guellen, located vaguely in central Europe, has fallen into poverty since the end of World War II. But fortunately for its inhabitants, famous multimillionaire Claire Zachanassian grew up in Guellen and is returning for a visit after 45 years. In hopes that Claire will share her wealth to save the town, the Mayor has planned a grand welcome. Alfred Ill, who is the most well-liked man in town and slated to become the next mayor, happens to be Claire’s long-ago lover. He is also the only person in town who knows and remembers her at all, and his help is enlisted to sweet-talk Claire into giving the town money. Claire upsets their preparations by arriving early, her seventh husband and a strange entourage in tow. She also brings, along with mountains of luggage, a coffin. Claire goes with Ill to some of the places where they trysted. She confronts Ill for ending their relationship to marry Matilda Blumhard, whose family had money and owned the town General Store. Because of Ill’s actions, Claire left Guellen and ended up working in a brothel until her first husband, a billionaire, married her. Ill claims that he did it to save Claire from staying in Guellen. Claire tells Ill that she will give the town money, and Ill excitedly accompanies her into town for a reception in her honor. After the Mayor gives an erroneous speech about her, Claire announces that she will donate a million pounds to Guellen, half of which will go to the town and the other half to be divided among the townspeople. But she has a condition, which they quiet their cheering to hear.

Claire’s butler comes forward, introducing himself as Guellen’s one-time Lord Chief Justice. Once, he arbitrated a paternity case. Claire, who was 17, was pregnant and named Ill, who was 20, as the father. But Ill paid two men to claim that they slept with her. Claire left Guellen in disgrace. The baby was taken away and died after a year. To survive, Claire was forced into sex work. She has had the two men who lied blinded and castrated, now a part of her entourage, and she wants to buy justice against Ill. She’ll give the money in exchange for someone killing Ill. The Mayor immediately rejects the offer as inhuman, but Claire says that she will wait.

Act II begins in Ill’s store, where townspeople are buying things on store credit. Although they all tell Ill that they stand with him, Ill suddenly realizes that everyone is spending extravagantly on credit, because they know that someone will follow through to get Claire’s money. Recognizing that he is being threatened, Ill goes to the Policeman, the Mayor, and then the Priest, begging each of them to help him. But they all demonstrate that they are spending money too. Terrified, Ill goes to the train station, followed by the entire town. Afraid that someone will grab him, Ill misses the train and collapses in panic. The townspeople walk away, leaving him there. In Act III, the Doctor and the Schoolmaster go to see Claire, who has just married and divorced another husband, to ask if she will invest in the town instead of giving a gift. But Claire reveals that she already owns everything in the town. She shut down the factories to create the rampant poverty.

At Ill’s store, his wife is helping customers who are still upgrading their purchases and buying on credit. Some men from town come in and decide to sit and make sure that Ill doesn’t decide to talk to the press that came to town for Claire’s wedding. The Schoolmaster, who has started drinking, nearly speaks up when reporters come into the store, but Ill, who has been hiding upstairs, stops him. After the reporters and townspeople leave, Ill comments that his family has also been buying on credit, including his son’s new car. He surprises his family by telling them to dress up to go for a drive. The Mayor comes in and tells Ill that there will be a town meeting and a vote about accepting Claire’s offer. He tries to give Ill a gun to save the town the trouble by killing himself, but Ill refuses, although he agrees to abide by the results of the vote. His family returns, and after a pleasant ride, Ill says goodbye and goes to the woods where Claire is supposed to be walking with her new husband. Ill and Claire talk about the end of their relationship and their daughter who died. Claire promises to take Ill in the coffin to a mausoleum in Capri, so he will be near her forever. Ill goes to the town meeting. The press is present, so the Mayor and Schoolmaster speak vaguely, but they finally hold a vote. Only Ill votes against taking the money. After the press leaves, the men of the town strangle Ill. The Mayor tells an errant reporter that Ill died of a heart attack from happiness. Claire gives the Mayor the check and has Ill’s body carried out and placed in the coffin. As Claire and her luggage, along with the coffin, head to the train station, the townspeople sing her praises and pray for their own good fortune.