The Visit

After an absence of many years, Claire Zachanassian, the world's wealthiest woman, returns to her penniless hometown. Claire promises the impoverished residents a financial boon beyond their wildest dreams. She will make each member of the community rich, but to earn that money they must kill the childhood sweetheart who betrayed her. Outraged townsfolk react with horror and initially reject her offer, but the allure of wealth proves irresistible. In The Visit, Dürrenmatt conjures a dramatic world which is at once a macabre parable, a deeply moving tragedy, and a scathing indictment of the power of greed.