- Dancing Plague,
- 2022
- 18 roles – minimum cast: 6 actors (men/women)
Playwright: Konstantinos Markellos
- Beginning on 14 July 1518 and continuing for several weeks, thousands of oppressed and impoverished citizens of Strasbourg, driven by an irresistible and mysterious impulse, found themselves dancing ceaselessly to the point of exhaustion in the streets of the city that today lies at the heart of the European Community. Alarmed, the religious and political authorities sought to identify the source of this incomprehensible dancing mania, attributing it in turn to astrological, supernatural, biological, medical and other causes. Above all, however, they rushed to contain its spread and preserve order in the streets, imposing drastic measures of repression. Despite their efforts, the mania quickly grew into an uncontrollable epidemic that became known as the “Dancing Plague”. By the end of August, the phenomenon had subsided under circumstances that remain unexplained to this day. In the meantime, hundreds of people had died from exhaustion, dehydration, strokes or heart attacks. Inspired by the lockdown period, Dancing Plague is an allegory with Brechtian references, filled with dark humour, relentless rhythms and ironic, allusive language. Taking one of history’s great unsolved mysteries as its starting point, it satirises the failings of the present. With deliberate naivety, the play explores the limits and shortcomings of human nature, the fear of death, the inevitable decay of bodies and ideologies, and the instinctive human response to oppression, manipulation and deprivation. It illuminates the conflict between the desire for freedom and the necessity of belonging together.