Be Just! (30-45 minute version)

By: Thor Hopper
Cast: 4 flexible, opt. extras
Performance Time: Approximately 30-45 minutes, 34 pgs

HORROR/SATIRE. Adapted from the short story “In the Penal Colony” by Franz Kafka. An esteemed foreigner arrives at a penal colony and is asked to witness an elaborate torture and execution device that inscribes into a prisoner’s skin the law he has broken before letting him die, a process that takes 12 excruciating hours. An Officer who is the sole defender and advocate of the apparatus gleefully shows off the device to the Traveler and describes the current system of absolute justice in which the accused is instantly found guilty with no opportunity for a defense. The Officer begs the Traveler to vouch for the device to the new commandant so that the brutal executions may continue. When the Traveler refuses, the Officer frees the Prisoner and sets up the machine to inscribe “Be Just” into his own flesh. This provocative, timely play mixes horror with gallows humor and provides an opportunity for a tour de force performance by the Officer.

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About the Story: To read more about the story click here.