A postmodern, black grotesque monodrama, Black Stamp Theatre explores dictatorship with metaphysical satire in the world premiere of Jeremiah’s Tuesday at The Butterfly Club ahead of its off-Broadway debut later this month.
Jeremiah, in his dreams and ambitions is a prophet and savior. He is the supreme dictator. Comparisons could be made between Jeremiah and history’s most ruthless leaders – Caligula, Nero, Stalin, Hitler, Amin etc… However, some or perhaps all that the character says could be the product of fantasy and imagination.
Creator of his own political, social, military and religious system, Jeremiah’s international ‘totalitarian democracy’ has crumbled and he is in hiding, post-revolution. He patiently awaits his executioners as the entire planet floods.
First drafted in Polish in 1990, Jeremiah’s Tuesday was translated to English in 1997 by Robert Reisner and published in The World of Monodrama – Stefan Mrowinski in 2007. Recognising the political landscape in Australia was changing in 2012 – it was time to redraft. The setting was reversed to the future and the protagonist changed from a socialist/communist dictator to a democratic dictator.
“The essential theme of Jeremiah’s Tuesday is the unquenchable thirst of the human ego and the tendency towards delusions of grandeur under the influence of all encompassing power,” says Playwright Stefan Mrowinski.
The piece uncovers the satirical nature of a dictator in a metaphysical way. Set in the future, it poetically explores the vertical cliff face we are hurtling towards – the demise of representative democracy. The text and style is, at times, harshly visceral and confronting, at others beautifully lyrical and compassionate, and should not be seen as a ‘self-meaning’ artistic presentation, but an imported secret dialog with the spectator.
“The play is a prophetic treatise on the current political zeitgeist ie: the use of mass media propaganda to fool the masses into supporting totalitarian creep and believing in the concept of a New World Order,” says Performer Steven Kennedy.
Director & Playwright: Stefan Mrowinski Performer: Steven Kennedy
Jeremiah’s Tuesday
The Butterfly Club, 5 Carson Place, Melbourne
Season: 8 – 11 October 2015
Bookings: (03) 9663 8107 or online at: www.thebutterflyclub.com
Image: Steven Kennedy in Jeremiah’s Tuesday (supplied)