Act Break

"Act Break"
The Twilight Zone episode
Scene from "Act Break"
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 8a
Directed by	Ted Flicker
Written by	Haskell Barkin
Production code	9
Original air date	November 15, 1985
Guest appearance(s)
James Coco: Maury Winkler Bob Dishy: Harry/Shakespeare Avery Schreiber: Landlord

"Act Break" is the first segment of the eighth episode from the first season (1985–86) of the television series The Twilight Zone.

Opening narration

“

Maury Winkler, struggling playwright and occasional bill payer. Maury knows that all the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players. What Maury doesn't know is he is about to take center stage in an off-Broadway production in the Twilight Zone.

”

Plot

Maury is a playwright who is desperately behind in his rent. After incessant hounding by his landlord, and arguing over their latest play, his partner Harry dies of a heart attack. Harry, in his last moments, hands Maury an ancient relic and explains to Maury that the bearer of this relic grants the individual one wish and one wish only. He continues on to tell Maury that he had already given up his wish and needs Maury to hold the relic and use his wish to heal him. After pondering for a moment, as he watches his partner fade, Maury apologizes to Harry and tells him that the wish should be used for something a whole lot more. Harry dies and Maury then wishes he could have the greatest playwright ever as his partner.

There is a flash and Maury is dressed in Elizabethan-era clothing; he's gone back in time. He sees a man speaking to himself as he paces back and forth. Maury recognizes the man as William Shakespeare himself. Realizing that he had made a serious miscalculation in his wish, he informs Shakespeare that he cannot work with him and that he does not belong there. However, before he could think of a way to return to his own time period, Maury also notices that the relic is no longer in his possession and sees that William has it in his hand. Maury cautiously asks for the relic back and, clenching it in his hand in a gesture of thought, William says to Maury, "I wish for you to work with me."

Suddenly Maury is filled with thoughts of all the plays that William has written and filled with ideas for possible other plays. Finally realizing that his fate has been set, he succumbs and sits at a desk and begins to write, knowing he has truly become a "ghost writer".

Note

The premise of this episode is similar to "The Bard", in the original series of The Twilight Zone. Shakespeare appeared in that episode, but the situation there brought him into the present.

External links

The Twilight Zone (1985) episodes

Season 1	"Shatterday" "A Little Peace and Quiet" "Wordplay" "Dreams for Sale" "Chameleon" "Healer" "Children's Zoo" "Kentucky Rye" "Little Boy Lost" "Wish Bank" "Nightcrawlers" "If She Dies" "Ye Gods" "Examination Day" "A Message from Charity" "Teacher's Aide" "Paladin of the Lost Hour" "Act Break" "The Burning Man" "Dealer's Choice" "Dead Woman's Shoes" "Wong's Lost and Found Emporium" "The Shadow Man" "The Uncle Devil Show" "Opening Day" "The Beacon" "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" "Her Pilgrim Soul" "I of Newton" "Night of the Meek" "But Can She Type?" "The Star" "Still Life" "The Little People of Killany Woods" "The Misfortune Cookie" "Monsters!" "A Small Talent for War" "A Matter of Minutes" "The Elevator" "To See the Invisible Man" "Tooth and Consequences" "Welcome to Winfield" "Quarantine" "Gramma" "Personal Demons" "Cold Reading" "The Leprechaun-Artist" "Dead Run" "Profile in Silver" "Button, Button" "Need to Know" "Red Snow" "Take My Life...Please!" "Devil's Alphabet" "The Library" "Shadow Play" "Grace Note" "A Day in Beaumont" "The Last Defender of Camelot"

Season 2	"The Once and Future King" "A Saucer of Loneliness" "What Are Friends For?" "Aqua Vita" "The Storyteller" "Nightsong" "The After Hours" "Lost and Found" "The World Next Door" "The Toys of Caliban" "The Convict's Piano" "The Road Less Traveled" "The Card" "The Junction" "Joy Ride" "Shelter Skelter" "Private Channel" "Time and Teresa Golowitz" "Voices in the Earth" "Song of the Younger World" "The Girl I Married"

Season 3	"The Curious Case of Edgar Witherspoon" "Extra Innings" "The Crossing" "The Hunters" "Dream Me a Life" "Memories" "The Hellgramite Method" "Our Selena Is Dying" "The Call" "The Trance" "Acts of Terror" "20/20 Vision" "There Was an Old Woman" "The Trunk" "Appointment on Route 17" "The Cold Equations" "Stranger in Possum Meadows" "Street of Shadows" "Something in the Walls" "A Game of Pool" "Room 2426" "The Mind of Simon Foster" "The Wall" "Cat and Mouse" "Rendezvous in a Dark Place" "Many, Many Monkeys" "Love is Blind" "Crazy as a Soup Sandwich" "Special Service" "Father and Son Game"

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/24/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.

Act Break

Opening narration

Plot

Note

See also

External links