It’s Only the End of the World

“We don’t know you.”

An authorial autobiographical testimony by Jean-Luc Lagarce. Hypnorealism.

The 1990s. Successful, single and childless thirty-something Parisian Louis visits his family in the country. His visits are becoming less and less frequent and a long time has passed since the last time he came. Cultural differences can divide families, too. Louis returns home to confide a great and weighty secret and is welcomed by his mother, who lives in the past, and memories of his dead father. Then there is his brother, who has stayed to take care of their mother, his brother’s wife and his youngest sister, who looks up to her older brother who lives in the city. Silence and awkwardness abound. Tension grows as they all try not to reopen old – and still painful – wounds.

Everyone is trying to keep their emotions under control and play their parts, but who defined those parts? Is self-repression the only way to be together? Where are the limits of selfishness in family relationships and how important is it to protect our illusions about others? Career ambitions and claims of freedom clash with the responsibility to look after our loved ones. It’s as if it’s impossible to succeed at anything. Omnipresent guilt permeates the entire house. Who creates who in this family and who owes what to whom? How often should we return home? What is home, anyway?

A production at the intersection of reality and a model, theatre and a PC game. A family simulator.

About the company

Over the course of its existence since the 1970s, HaDivadlo has established its position in the Czech theatre context as an alternative theatre with a particular view of the world and an aesthetic all its own. Since the beginning, it has presented itself as venue with distinctive authorial poetics, demanding dramaturgy and strong creative personalities. HaDivadlo is a member of the Centre for Experimental Theatre.