The Bad Seed

Her daughter is polite, immaculate, top of her class, and a classmate has just drowned.

Maxwell Anderson adapted William March's novel in 1954 and it has unsettled people ever since. Christine Penmark has a seemingly perfect eight year old, Rhoda. When a boy from Rhoda's class dies in the water, Christine starts pulling at threads she would rather leave alone, and what she finds forces her to ask where evil actually comes from and whether she handed it on herself.

Worth knowing. The stage version keeps the original ending, which the 1954 film was not permitted to use. If you only know the movie, you do not know how this one finishes.

Deborah Burke directs, produced by Chris Cluett.

Ten performances. Friday 16, Saturday 17, Friday 23, Saturday 24 and Friday 30 April and Saturday 1 May at 7:30pm, Sunday matinees on 18 and 25 April and 2 May at 2pm, plus one Thursday, 22 April at 7:30pm.

Getting tickets. Booking runs through On The Stage, from the show's own page on the Town Players site. The box office is on 203-594-3636 and they answer email at info@tpnc.org.

Where to go. The Powerhouse Theatre is at 679 South Avenue in New Canaan, tucked into Waveny Park, and it is an easy run in from anywhere in lower Fairfield County.