2008: Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men Of Mice and Men is a novella written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the tragic story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers in Great Depression-era California.

Based on Steinbeck’s own experiences as a bindle stiff in the 1920s (before the arrival of the Okies he would vividly describe in The Grapes of Wrath), the title is taken from a poem by Robert Burns, “To a Mouse”, which is often quoted as: “The best-laid plans of mice and men,often go awry”.

Wikipedia

Two drifters, George and his friend Lennie, with delusions of living off the “fat of the land,” have just arrived at a ranch to work for enough money to buy their own place. Lennie is a man-child, a little boy in the body of a dangerously powerful man.

It’s Lennie’s obsessions with things soft and cuddly, that have made George cautious about who the gentle giant, with his brute strength, associates with. His promise to allow Lennie to “tend to the rabbits” on their future land keeps Lennie calm, amidst distractions, as the overgrown child needs constant reassurance. But when tragedy strikes, it’s obvious that Lennie, albeit unintentionally, is responsible.

George, now worried about his own safety, knows exactly where Lennie has gone to hide, and he meets him there. Realizing they can’t run away anymore, George is faced with a moral question: how should he deal with Lennie before the ranchers find him and take matters into their own hands.

Dramatists Play Service Inc.

The cast:

Herschel Andoh	Crooks
Rebecca Croll	Curley’s Wife
Bill Fletcher	Candy
Adam LeBlanc	George Milton
Alex McCooeye	Slim
Christopher Moore	Curley
Matthew Raudsepp	Whit
Aaron Turner	Carlson
Peter Vrana	Lennie Small