S.d.Ch.
THE LAST GOOSE SUPPER
Gastro-political drama, created in honour of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, as well as the sixty-sixth anniversary of Victorious February 1948.
(Poslední husička)
4m, 1w
SYNOPSIS
Naked Stripper is dancing on top of the table in a large rustic kitchen. Politician, preparing a gigantic goose for supper, interrupts Stripper’s production, for, as he says, a ʻdifferent sort of stripteaseʼ is about to take place in the kitchen. And so it is. When Stripper leaves, Politician’s monstrously out-of-hand obsession for eating roast goose in one sitting becomes apparent. He even gives his roast goose the name ʻZuzankaʼ.
The serious nature of his obsession is also confirmed by Doctor, his personal physician, who comes to try prevent the worst from happening. Doctor diagnoses Politician’s condition as suicidal, Zuzanka being the means of the suicide, the effects of which are emphasised by Pilsner beer, French cognac and the Cuban cigar, enjoyed by Politician while cooking the goose.
Doctor attempts to give Politician a lesson, warns him and uses various threats, but it appears that Politician is reconciled to his fate. He even plans the eating of Zuzanka to be a suicidal act, ritualised as the last supper.
This is the reason why this political play could be so unashamedly written about a politician. There is something heroic about his characer: the hedonism of Politician is demonstrated by his unbound and destructive obsession, which makes him an extraordinary human being. Betrayed by his own body’s ability to indulge his passion, Politician possesses a chilling will to self-destruct. Politician is not a dramatic caricature of a politician, he is not a satirical, but rather a dramatic character. He is somewhat ʻold schoolʼ, a monster of philosophical and tragic dimensions. As will become apparent from the dialogue with Doctor, Politician has robbed his tax payers, abused his position of power, acted as an extremely capable opportunist, and knows how to act as an arrogant and self-seeking individual. Despite all this, he has very little in common with the profiteering travesty of the politicians of today. It is as if he was not of this world, because, heaven help us, he even has a sense of humour and his irony is not daft and widely offensive, but carefully thought-through and searing.
His determination to self-destruct is underscored by a duo of clown-like gravediggers, who, during the long Politician-Doctor dialogue, keep bringing a variety of increasingly extravagant coffins, intended to escalate Politician’s betrayal of his own original plan to be laid to rest in a simple, plain wooden box.
Urged by Doctor, who is following his own gain, Politician demonstrates the fundamental principals of his political career by preparing, roasting and eating the goose. As he incessantly insists, his political career was driven exclusively by his obsession and motivated entirely by his fatal desire to eat the entire goose alone every time. The direct nature of his professional motivation beautifully contrasts with the sophistication of his strategies.
As Doctor begins to question the validity of the highest possible manipulation of people, voters and citizens, and a degree to which they are willing to believe Polician’s absurd argumentation; justifying his disgraceful behaviour, the lies, the thieving, the utter dishonesty and degradation, Politician’s ironic clincher unfolds. A crowd has assembled under his windows, celebrating some sort of political anniversary. It is obviously a politically-conscious crowd. Politician, instead of serving them the aromatic roast goose, which would be the appropriate reward for consuming the fruits of their hard work, has quite literally and explicitly served them his own shit, a waste product of his consummation of the roast delicacy. And they, in this perverse mode, found again and again in the desperate good will and faith, have eaten it. In his answer to Doctor’s doubts, Politician opens the window, through which the enthusiastic collective "Thank you! Thank you!" enters the rustic kitchen.
But Zuzanka the last roast goose is ready and Politician sits down to consume it. The gravediggers bring the last, most extravagant coffin, out of which jumps Politician’s death in the shape of the naked Sripper. Only Politician can see her, as he is, despite our disgust, truly a big person.