The bourgeois Dupont family is haunted by a terrifying noise, forcing them to relocate to increasingly drab and cramped living quarters in an apartment. Long-suffering teenage daughter Zenobia longs for the days when she had her own room and went dancing every Sunday night while her parents, Father and Mother, gleefully insist that everything is fine. Meanwhile, a battered Schmurz creature seems to follow the family from room to room bearing the brunt of their violent brutality. As an absurdist play, The Empire Builders can be interpreted many different ways, depending upon the context through which it’s looked at. At its core, the play is a darkly comedic allegory about fear and the inevitable passage of time. With unflinching scenes of brutality and Father’s tour de force monologue that makes up the entirety of act three, The Empire Builders is a complex and memorable piece of theatre.
The Empire Builders guide sections
