THEATRE VERSUS OPPRESSION
Registered Charity SC039092
Using applied theatre to bring about positive change and development

What is 'The Sin Eater'?

The Sin Eater
By JS Hartley

(A play in one act)

The play has been written for two characters – the torturer and the interviewer. However it is important to note that the torturer covers the concept of various different stories of different torturers, it is not intended to be the one voice, the one person.

The scenery consists of two chairs and a table with a simple cloth , a jug of water and two glasses. Bare spotlights are used throughout to make the positions of the chairs, and general lights on the stage area.   No other lighting is used.

The play centres around memories of interviews and material from  interviews – some (semi) fabricated, some factual. The factual accounts have not been attributed and the torturer remains nameless deliberately to emphasise how he can be any one of us, that his monstrous capacity does not give him a monstrous appearance and that he could easily be the person standing next to us waiting for the bus or sitting next to us in a café, a neighbour, someone we work beside, even a member of our own family.

You cannot transcend
What you do not know.
To go beyond yourself
You must know yourself.

(Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj)