In "A Gift of Time" death is the inescapable enemy. In the opening scene it is clear that Charles Wertenbaker, a writer of 53, attractive, urbane and mature, is doomed. Consulting with physicians in St. Jean-de-Luz, he is told that he must undergo immediate surgery for the removal of an intestinal obstruction. He and his wife, Lael, may think there is hope, but the audience is told by one of the doctors that he is lost….

Mr. Kanin never means to have the outcome in doubt.

The aim of the play is to reveal how Charles and Lael carry out their delicately expressed agreement to make the most precious use of whatever gift of time is left to him. Charles has no desire for religious comfort, and though as a Time-Life luminary he once wrote about the affairs of the world, issues of politics, economics, diplomacy and the other...