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Dramatic Interp
Dramatic Reading
by Ambrose Bierce

Set during the Civil War, this famous short story tells of a civilian (Peyton Farquhar) who gets information from a traveling soldier. He says that the North is repairing the railroad and getting ready for another advance. "They have reached the Owl Creek Bridge, put it in order, and built a stockade on the north bank. Any civilian caught interfering with the railroad . . . will be hanged." The soldier goes on to tell Farquhar that there is only a picket post guarding the south side of the bridge. He says that if a civilian could elude the guard, he could set a pile of drift wood that has gathered near the bridge, on fire, burn the bridge, and ruin the North's plan. The soldier is actually a northern spy, and Farquhar is caught and sentenced to hang, right on the bridge. As he stands with his hands tied, and the noose around his neck, he struggles to free his hands. Then the order is given, and he drops. He struggles for a little, and then it seems as if the rope breaks. Everything is like a dream, and he is acting on instinct. He swims through the river, eludes the shots the enemy is firing at him, finally clutches the sand, crawls to shore, and runs through the forest toward home. Suddenly he is standing at the gate of his home -- "he sees his wife. She steps down from the veranda steps with extended arms. As he is about to clasp her, he feels a stunning blow to the back of the neck; . . . . Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek Bridge." Three male characters. Mostly narrative. Use of a southern accent is recommended. Shocking ending. Very dramatic and intense!

6-8 min.