SOURCE: "Suicide Talk in 'Night, Mother, " The New York Times, 1 April 1983, p. C3.

'Night, Mother premiered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in a production by the American Repertory Theater in December 1982. The following March it opened in New York at the John Golden Theater. In the review below of the New York production, Rich asserts that 'night, mother "is not a message play about the choice to commit suicide. It's about contemporary life and what gives it—or fails to give it—value. "

"We've got a good life here," says Theima Cates to her daughter. Jessie, in Marsha Norman's new play, 'Night, Mother. Many would agree. Thelma, who is a widow, and Jessie, who is divorced, live together in a spick-and-span house on a country road somewhere in the New South. There are no money problems. Nights are spent in such relaxed pursuits as crocheting and watching television.

But on...