An enormously wealthy older woman returns to her former hometown with a dreadful bargain: she wants the townspeople to kill the man who got her pregnant, then jilted her.

The story opens with the town of Güllen (a name evoking "liquid manure" in German) preparing for the arrival of famed billionaire Claire Zachanassian, who grew up there.

Alfred Ill (Anton Schill in a common English-language adaptation) is the owner of Güllen's general store and the most popular man in town.

The townspeople are overjoyed, but their happiness is damped when Claire's butler steps forward to reveal her condition for the donation.

Socially disgraced, Claire was exiled, lost the child and eventually met a wealthy client while working as a prostitute in the city.

As time passes, Alfred becomes increasingly paranoid as he sees everyone purchasing especially costly items on credit in his shop.

The play premiered in 1956 as Besuch der alten Dame at the Schauspielhaus Zürich, with a cast that included Ruedi Walter as the blind eunuch Loby.

[4] Ingrid Bergman and Anthony Quinn starred in a much-altered film adaptation, also called The Visit, directed by Bernhard Wicki, in 1964.

In 1976 The Visit was adapted for Lebanese National Television Tele Liban (the only broadcasting station in Lebanon at that time) as the full sixth episode of the hit TV series "Allo Hayeti ألو حياتي" directed for TV by Antoine Remi أنطوان ريمي, and Starring Hind Abi Al Lamaa هند أبي اللمع as Claire (or Clara as called in the Lebanese production) and Abdel Majeed Majzoob عبد المجيد مجذوب as her lover Alfred, Layla Karam, Philip Akiki (as the Mayor) and Elias Rizk (as the teacher).

USSR movie Visit of a Lady [ru] was shot in 1989, directed by Mikhail Kozakov, starring Yekaterina Vasilyeva and Valentin Gaft.

A Senegalese film adaptation written and directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty, Hyenas, reimagined the story as an allegory of neocolonialism and African consumerism.

The Lady returns [es] is a 1996 Argentinian film directed by Jorge Polaco starring Isabel Sarli.

The musical was revised and played from May 13 – June 22, 2008, at Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, in a production once again starring Rivera, this time with George Hearn.

In 2015 Rivera and Roger Rees took this adaptation of The Visit to Broadway, with preview performances on March 26, 2015, at the Lyceum Theatre under the Tony Award-winning direction of John Doyle.

A new English language adaptation written by Tony Kushner and directed by Jeremy Herrin played at the National Theatre in London from February 11 to May 13, 2020.