| The Thirteenth Chair | |
|---|---|
&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Margaret_Wycherly_in_The_Thirteenth_Chair_(1916).jpg) | |
| Written by | Bayard Veiller |
| Based on | Stories by Will Irwin |
| Directed by | William Harris Sr. and William Harris Jr. |
| Date premiered | November 20, 1916 |
| Place premiered | 48th Street Theatre |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | Murder during seance and locked-room mystery |
| Genre | Melodrama |
| Setting | The Italian room of a mansion, New York City, 1916 |
The Thirteenth Chair is a 1916 play by the American writer Bayard Veiller. It has three acts and a single setting. The action takes place entirely in the drawing room of a large house in New York City during one evening. One critic labelled it a melodrama using mystery fiction devices: a murder during a seance, and a locked-room mystery. There are no clues given to the audience to identify the murderer, who is exposed only by supernatural agency in the last act.
It was first produced and staged by William Harris and his son William Harris Jr., and starred Margaret Wycherly. After a brief tryout in New Haven, Connecticut, it premiered on Broadway during November 1916, where it ran until September 1917 for 350 performances. Following its Broadway season, the original production went on tour, while a separate company opened in the West End theatre district of London.
The play was adapted for a 1919 silent film, and an early sound film in 1929. The latter may have been just as much a source as the play for a 1937 movie.