Deluge

Description

‘Deluge’ draws its inspiration from the Old Testament story of the Flood. It is a slightly surreal, blackly comical, allegorical drama, set in the present, about two thirty-something-year-old brothers who stagger home drunk after a night at the village inn. Deciding to re-enact a childhood dare, they climb onto a chapel roof where they fall asleep in a drunken stupor. They wake next morning to find themselves marooned, surrounded by a vast sea of water, which seems magically to rise or recede according to how badly or how well they treat each other. So, what will happen when one discovers the other may have cheated him of his inheritance?

Biblical Connection

In the Old Testament story, God, dismayed by men’s sinful behaviour, sent down the Flood to wipe out life on Earth, saving only the virtuous Noah and his family. ‘Deluge’ gives this uncompromising story contemporary relevance by linking it to what is arguably the most significant political and moral crisis facing mankind today - global warming. With melting ice caps and rising sea temperatures, the possibility of major floods actually occurring is now more likely than ever. ‘Deluge’ is the story of the flood re-told in microcosm through the story of the two brothers. So long as the two brothers get along and treat each other well, the water goes down. But once they start fighting over who should inherit their father’s mining company - busily buying up mineral rights in Greenland - it rises. Its message is that only by working with each other can we save ourselves and life on our planet as we know it. But if we fail the test, and allow greed, selfishness and envy to get in our way, we know what the consequences will be.