Sign-In
Cart
French Defense
Hardcover
Publisher Price: $30.00
Publisher: Otter Track Press
Published: Jul 3 2026
Pages: 176
Weight: 0.87
Height: 0.56 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
French Defense is a three-act play set in a fictional New Orleans chess club. It examines reality, perception, and personal struggles through dialogue and chess matches that reveal the characters' backgrounds, relationships, and internal conflicts. The play unfolds through spoken exchanges and chess moves, unveiling the histories, connections, and inner turmoil of its characters, including club members, friends, and villains, all marked by suspicion, violence, and trauma. Scenes include casual conversations, chess games, and tense moments, often symbolized by chess moves. Chess play signifies both literal and symbolic mental battles, strategic thinking, and personal conflicts, with characters discussing openings like the French Defense, Two Knights, Nimzo-Indian, and Tarrasch while moving pieces, mirroring real-life decisions and psychological states. Tension escalates with aggressive, rapid moves that symbolize growing conflict, and discussions reflect characters' mental and emotional struggles. References to checkmate, sacrifices, and positional advantages highlight ongoing internal conflicts.
An introspective exploration of human fragility, morality, and the randomness of violence, the story unfolds across three locations-a chess club, the Black Cat Club bar, and an outdoor park-featuring interactions among six characters-PLAYER, CELESTE, DR. WINTER, RAYMOND, SPIELMANN, and MC. A modified old-style chess notation is used (for its dramatic, verbally descriptive style) to heighten tension and thematic richness, with moments of violence, death, and reflection on mortality and morality woven throughout. PLAYER is depicted as a troubled, potentially alcoholic chess player at the story's center. CELESTE, a woman in her 30s, is either imagined or a ghost connected to PLAYER, involved in personal and possibly unlawful activities. DR. WINTER appears as Celeste's imagined therapist, who in the final act becomes a bartender and confidant, offering philosophical insights. RAYMOND is an aggressive biker with a deadly grudge against PLAYER. SPIELMANN claims to be a retired teacher and chess enthusiast and serves as an observer. MC manages the chess club, narrates, and facilitates.
1 different editions
Also available
Also from
Wayne, Clifford G.
Also in
Plays
Four Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew, a Midsummer Night's Dream, the Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night
Shakespeare, William
Paperback
Death of a Salesman: Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem
Miller, Arthur
Paperback
The Greek Tragedies: Seventeen Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides
Sophocles
Euripides
Aeschylus
Paperback
The Laramie Project and the Laramie Project: Ten Years Later
Pierotti, Greg
Kaufman, Moises
Fondakowski, Leigh
Paperback
FRANKENSTEIN or The Modern Prometheus (The Revised 1831 Edition - Wisehouse Classics)
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
Paperback
Four Major Plays: A Doll's House/Ghosts/Hedda Gabler/The Master Builder
Arup, Jens
Ibsen, Henrik
McFarlane, James
Paperback
A Doll's House and Other Plays: With Pillars of the Community, Ghosts and an Enemy of the People
Ibsen, Henrik
Paperback
KJV, Pew Bible, Large Print, Hardcover, Burgundy, Red Letter Edition (Large Print Edition)
Thomas Nelson
Hardcover
Our Town and the Cosmic One-Acts: The Long Christmas Dinner, the Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden, and Pullman Car Hiawatha
Wilder, Thornton
Paperback
Five Plays: Ivanov, the Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and the Cherry Orchard
Hingley, Ronald
Chekhov, Anton
Paperback