AFTER THE END

“After the End”
by Dennis Kelly

The psychological thriller by award-winning British playwright Dennis Kelly will be performed at PLYFA from March 5th, every Wednesday and Thursday at 21:00, directed by Anna Micheli, starring two outstanding young actors, Foivos Papakostas and Katerina Spyrou.

Dennis Kelly, one of the most intriguing voices in contemporary British drama, is highly regarded in Greece. His plays, such as Orphans, DNA, Osama the Hero, Debris, Love and Money, Girls and Boys, and the musical Matilda (based on Roald Dahl’s book), have been staged with great success. After the End, written in 2005, proves to be prophetic—a psychological thriller about power dynamics and the ways people manipulate each other in extreme circumstances.

Synopsis:
When the world, society, and the rules you knew have collapsed, what do you do? When stepping outside means death, how do you survive? How slowly does time pass within four walls? How quickly do relationships and people change when they only have each other?
Louise and Mark are colleagues. A nuclear explosion has forced them into an underground shelter, where they must remain until radiation levels drop and it is safe to leave. In this forced confinement, their best and worst instincts emerge. A complex relationship of intimacy, manipulation, and abuse unfolds through the minutes, hours, and days they spend together, isolated from the outside world. How much of themselves can they bear to lose? Or perhaps—how much can they reveal?

Director’s Note:
I first came across After the End 15 years ago while studying directing in London. Back then, I saw a well-crafted play with three-dimensional characters and a gripping plot full of twists. The dystopian premise of forced confinement due to an external threat seemed like a work of fiction. After our recent collective experience, I now see the play differently. A confined space. Two people—a man and a woman—forced to coexist for an uncertain period, trapped in a shelter. The threat of death if they step outside. These elements now feel unsettlingly familiar. After the End compels us to question who we are within the “normality” of our world, how we present ourselves to others, and how swiftly we shed our identities when survival becomes the priority and fear dominates. Another crucial question the play raises—one that has preoccupied me a lot recently—is how an abusive relationship begins. What are the tactics, the words, the comments, the restrictions? How is manipulation built? How does someone slowly become trapped in a controlling dynamic with no apparent escape? At what point does it become clear who the perpetrator is and who the victim? Are we who we think we are, or are we defined by our actions? Mark and Louise seem to embody two opposing sides of the same civilized world—two contrasting social and political perspectives. Stripped of any connection to society or civilization, they are forced to confront themselves and each other. — Anna Micheli

Content Warning: Some scenes contain intense violence
Duration: 90 minutes (no intermission)
Suitable Age: 18+