Theatre

Explore the theatrical work of Rhys Clarke. He is a playwright who enjoys producing dark satire, absurdist nightmares and comedies.
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About My Theatre Productions

What makes my short stories different?

Challenging Satire

The world is full of absurd injustice and overwhelming corruption. I enjoy exploring these topics by writing and producing satirical plays designed to challenge and ridicule figures of authority. My work is heavily inspired by the comedies of menace pioneered by Harold Pinter, who also used his writing to criticise those in power.

Comedy

Sometimes, all you can do is laugh. My plays often embrace the pure-hearted silliness and absurd stupidity that has made British comedy so wonderful. I love entertaining audiences with foolish characters and absurd scenarios, producing comedy that can be enjoyed by the whole family.

Stage And Screen

I have a wide range of experience as both an actor for both the stage and screen. I have experienced what it's like to step out in front of an audience, as well as what it’s like to hear the director yell: “Action!” I’ve had to sacrifice my dignity on many occasions for my craft, from making emergency shopping trips to buy prop food for a play, to having to repeatedly swim in a freezing Scottish loch at night for a film that ended up not being produced. My experience as an actor has been invaluable in supporting me as a playwright and screenwriter.

New Theatre

I am deeply committed to writing and producing bold and experimental new theatre. I relish any opportunity to play around with the form and traditional conventions of theatre, such as blending poetry and alternative media into my productions.

Dramatic Influences

My plays are heavily inspired by the work of Harold Pinter. In particular, his incredibly disturbing comedies of menace, as well as the more explicitly polemical works of theatre that he was known for producing towards the end of his career. My work has also been influenced by the more existential theatre of Samuel Beckett.

The Power Of Language

There is a trend in some modern theatre to strip back the language used on stage. I reject this. I believe that theatre should embrace and elevate the beauty of language. I enjoy blending poetry and word games into my plays, transforming dialogue into a powerful form of spoken art.

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Democracy

A dystopian satire of representative democracy, authoritarianism, and moral corruption.

Democracy is a political satire, set in an alternative version of Britain ruled by a totalitarian regime that maintains control through the illusion of democratic choice. There are two official parties under the control of the state, and it is mandatory for every citizen to vote for one of these two parties in every election. Anyone who refuses to participate is declared mentally ill and persecuted by the state. The play opens with two representatives of the state, a bureaucrat called Rosie and a doctor called Guy, visiting the home of Callum Bowler, a former soldier. Callum has decided not to vote in the upcoming election, a decision that will have serious consequences for himself and his whole family…

Democracy
Democracy
Democracy

A dystopian satire of representative democracy, authoritarianism, and moral corruption.

Democracy is a political satire, set in an alternative version of Britain ruled by a totalitarian regime that maintains control through the illusion of democratic choice. There are two official parties under the control of the state, and it is mandatory for every citizen to vote for one of these two parties in every election. Anyone who refuses to participate is declared mentally ill and persecuted by the state. The play opens with two representatives of the state, a bureaucrat called Rosie and a doctor called Guy, visiting the home of Callum Bowler, a former soldier. Callum has decided not to vote in the upcoming election, a decision that will have serious consequences for himself and his whole family…

Snakes and Ladders
Snakes and Ladders

A play about greed, power and deception.

The play begins with a chance meeting of two strangers outside of a train station in the middle of the night. There is Jason, the wealthy adopted son of a recently deceased philanthropist, Sir Eric Lowe, and Kev, a homeless man. Jason insists on taking Kev back to his family home to meet the rest of his family, where it is revealed that Kev is physically identical to the Lowe’s dead patriarch. As Kev stays with the Lowe’s at their decaying mansion, he finds himself in the middle of an absurd power struggle between various members of the Lowe family, with some members of the household viewing him as an opportunity to fill the void left by Sir Eric’s passing…

Revelation 18.8

A comedy-drama about friendship, isolation, and sacrifice.

As a mysterious plague ravages the outside world, four male students find themselves trapped in the permanent limbo of a national lockdown, forced to survive off of food packages delivered by the government. These four young men are forced to count off their endless days of isolation with nothing better to do than bicker about laundry, politics, and the proper way to cook pasta. Then, one day, the food packages from the government stop coming…

Revelation 18.8

A comedy-drama about friendship, isolation, and sacrifice.

As a mysterious plague ravages the outside world, four male students find themselves trapped in the permanent limbo of a national lockdown, forced to survive off of food packages delivered by the government. These four young men are forced to count off their endless days of isolation with nothing better to do than bicker about laundry, politics, and the proper way to cook pasta. Then, one day, the food packages from the government stop coming…

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