"Where There Is Nothing" is of great social significance, deeply revolutionary in the sense that it carries the message of the destruction of every institution--State, Property, and Church--that enslaves humanity. _For where there is nothing, there man begins._ A certain critic characterized this play as a "statement of revolt against the despotism of facts." Is there a despotism more compelling and destructive than that of the facts of property, of the State and Church? But "Where There Is Nothing" is not merely a "statement" of revolt. It embodies the spirit of revolt itself, of that most constructive revolt which begins with the destruction of every obstacle in the path of the new life that is to grow on the débris of the old, when the paralyzing yoke of institutionalism shall have been broken, and man left free to enjoy Life and Laughter. LENOX ROBINSON HARVEST _Timothy Hurley_, an old farmer, slaves all his life and mortgages his farm in order to enable his children to lead an idle, parasitic life. Started on this road toward so-called culture by the school-master, _William Lordan_, _Hurley's_ children leave their father's farm and in due time establish themselves in society as priest, lawyer, secretary and chemist, respectively. The secretary son is ashamed of his lowly origin and denies it. The lawyer son is much more concerned with his motor car than with the condition of the farm that has helped him on his feet. The priest has departed for America, there to collect funds for Church work. Only _Maurice_, the youngest son of _Timothy Hurley_, remains at home as the farm drudge, the typical man with the hoe. _Jack Hurley_, the chemist, and _Timothy's_ only daughter _Mary_, retain some loyalty to the old place, but when they return after an absence of years, they find themselves out of touch with farm life, and they too turn their back on their native heath. _Jack Hurley's_ notion of the country is that of most city people: nature is beautiful, the scenery lovely, so long as it is someone else who has to labor in the scorching sun, to plow and toil in the sweat of his brow. _Jack_ and his wife _Mildred_ are both extremely romantic about the farm. _Jack._ It stands to reason farming must pay enormously. Take a field of oats, for instance; every grain that's sown gives a huge percentage in return.... I don't know exactly how many grains a stalk carries, but several hundred I'm sure ... why, there's no investment in the world would give you a return like that. But soon they discover that every grain of corn does not yield hundreds of dollars.