THE STORY: The seventeenth-century Massachusetts settlement of Merrymount, led by Thomas Morton, is a place of easygoing frivolity, which makes it a thorn in the side of its Puritan neighbors. During the wild doings of the May Day celebration Mr. Blackstone, emissary of the English archbishop, attempts to impose some decorum on the unbridled colonists, but he is rebuffed. It is a different story, however, when Governor Endecott arrives at the head of his Puritan troops to punish the settlement for selling guns and liquor to the Indians. Being a reasonable man, Endecott allows Morton and Blackstone to state the case for their defense, and he resists the vindictive urgings of the zealous Elder Palfrey to bring quick and violent retribution to all. But his love of religious and civil liberty and his knowledge of English corruption ultimately bid him take action against a spreading blight. Summoning his resolve, he condemns the settlers to severe punishment and decrees that their houses be burned—striking a blow for freedom and honor destined, in time, to be echoed throughout the forming nation.
Based on the story by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Part of the trilogy of plays entitled
The Old Glory, which also includes
My Kinsman, Major Molineux and Benito Cereno.
