ABSTRACT
Acropolis marked a watershed in Robert E. Sherwood’s career. From this neglected and overlooked play sprang the works that made him famous: Idiot’s Delight, Abe Lincoln in Illinois: A Play in Twelve Scenes, and There Shall Be No Night. Idiot’s Delight ushers onto the stage another fool like Jupiter in Barnum Was Right, Amytis in The Road to Rome, and more importantly, Pheidias in Acropolis. Abe Lincoln in Illinois, which debuted in 1938, was Sherwood’s most successful and enduring play. Sherwood abandoned the hyper-democratic approach to character that caused confusion among audiences and critics, who sought, unsuccessfully, to identify a central protagonist in Acropolis. The chapter shows that Sherwood abandoned allegory and spoke out directly about the impending international crisis. There Shall Be No Night closes with the summary of Pericles’ Funeral Oration, borrowed from Acropolis.
