Jonathon Swift, author
Don Fleming, editor

71 pgs. 6 female, 6 male (65 characters doubled)
Originally produced in SCT's Summer Season
Doubling is possible Run Time: Under One Hour
Audience Recommendation: 6+

The play begins with doctor Lemuel Gulliver in Star Tavern, recounting his life story to the son he just discovered he had. Gulliver's journey takes him to strange and distant lands. He encounters tiny Lilliputians, and visits the land of giants, Brobdingnag. From there he travels to Laputa, a floating island devoted to the arts and academics, though inhabited by residents who are out of touch with reality. In Laguda and Struddlebrug he encounters singing beggars and senile immortals. In Gulliver's fourth and final journey he finds a land inhabited by intelligent, speaking horses called Houhynhms, whose servants are Yahoos, deformed human-like creatures. Gulliver is initially treated with kindness by the Houhynhms and impressed by their great intelligence and civility. When the Houhynhms find that Gulliver looks more like a Yahoo, he is banished. From that point Gulliver can't help but see all humans as Yahoos, and is disgusted by the sight, sound and stench of them. At the end of his travels Gulliver lives the life of a recluse only to speak to the horses in his stable, however, he vows to teach his son the way of the Houhynhms. Gulliver's Travels is both humorous and critical, and is a classic satire of society.