The project explores what Kraus’s play The Last Days of Mankind means in Great Britain nowadays. What relevance does this play have in our time and to a British audience? We will look at one of the most influential Austrian plays from a different angle by using it as starting point to enter an intercultural dialogue about the first World War, global conflicts nowadays, and the part the people are playing in them.
Kraus’s play centers around the absurdity of war, the lifes of people who are forced to continue their lives under these morbid circumstances, and the role the media plays. We are interested in thought-provoking plays and are open to all kind of work, which can also be inspired by thoughts such as:
War - absurdity or necessity?
Glorification vs. Vergangenheitsbewältigung: Different perceptions of the war in the UK and Austria.
Propaganda: Which role plays the media in global conflicts nowadays?
From 1914 to 2014: What has changed?
The aim of this project is to encourage intercultural collaboration and to make one of the most important Austrian playwrights known to and accessible for a greater public. We encourage playwrights to use Kraus as inspiration, but also to challenge the play and its relevance nowadays, and to write their very own response, which will lead to an interesting intercultural dialogue.
Criteria for submitted work
- Plays should have a running time between 60 and 80 minutes.
- Plays must require a cast NO GREATER THAN 4 (the play can have more characters).
- Plays must be relevant to our time and Great Britain and should use Kraus's play as inspiration, this can be with regards to content and/or style. However, we are looking for original plays and Kraus's work should be nothing more than an inspiration.
- The play can either lead into Kraus's epilogue and use it as its last scene, OR it can be a self-contained play. The running time of 60-80 minutes applies in any case to the ORIGINAL PART OF THE PLAY.
- Plays must be suitable to be performed in a studio space with an approximate size of the stage of 6.40m x 6.80m.
- The call is open to writers with any level of experience.
What next
If you are interested in participating, please send an email to info@timezonetheatre.com to receive a copy of Karl Kraus's The Last Days of Mankind.
To submit, please send
- A CV (max 2 pages)
- A short summary (max 500 words)
- A treatment
- A draft of the first 5 - 10 pages