The Cave is a play written by English novelist and artist Mervyn Peake in the mid-1950s. The play is a three-act drama, which takes place in one cave over three time periods; from the Neolithic period, through medieval to modern day or "the very near future". In one cave, thousands of years of history are played out. A history marked by conformity and the persecution of anyone who dares to speak out. One family struggles to live their day-to-day lives. Then one day a young girl enters the cave and throws their belief system into question. This unsettling and powerful play, from the author of Gormenghast, is a dark, inquisitive look at the role of the artist in society, the nature of authority and its effect on the human condition. The Cave will be published by Methuen in a Mervyn Peake collection in 2011 to celebrate the centenary of Peake's birth. Plot Act One An ice-age family of moon-worshipping cave dwellers fight off the constant threat of wolves at their cave mouth. When they expect the moon to smite them a girl enters their cave instead. First they mistake her for the body of the moon and offer to worship her; then they decide she is a blasphemer, for she challenges the moon to strike her down. The father and younger son attempt to kill her but she is saved at the last minute by the elder son. Act Two The second act, set in medieval times, opens with the actors in exactly the same positions as at the end of Act I. The elder son, now named Harry, pushes his younger brother, Miles, to the floor and releases his father from his grip. Harry, who drew on the wall of the cave in act one, is now a master sculptor, at work on a gargoyle for the local cathedral. The girl reveals that she is Mary Gray, a suspected witch from a neighbouring village. Soon a witch-hunter, Tom Carter, enters the cave in search of her. Harry knocks her out and hides her behind the carving. Together they conspire to send Tom off on a false trail, but Miles (with his eye on the reward) slips out and brings Tom back. They hear Harry declaring his love to Mary; a fight ensues and the act ends with Harry killing Tom. Act Three In a time when nuclear war is