The God Of Hell

A stunning new play by the great American dramatist

Described by Sam Shepard as 'a takeoff on Republican fascism', this uncompromising black comedy was written just before the 2004 Us presidential election.

Frank and Emma are American dairy farmers, alone in the MidWest. Nothing ever happens. Nothing has happened for years. But now there's a mysterious man hiding in their basement and a government official has come knocking at their door.

The God of Hell had its European premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, London, on 20 October 2005.

'A robust new farce [that] shows Shepard's gift for finding deadpan surrealism in bucolic speech . . . As hilarious as it is sobering' New York Times

'Deliriously entertaining and deeply scary . . . A shivering work of existential mystery' Newsday

'A funny and furious stab at the Bush Administration' The Times

Pulitzer Prize winner Sam Shepard's latest play is an uproarious, brilliantly provocative farce that brings the gifts of a quintessentially American playwright to bear on the current American dilemma.
Frank and Emma are a quiet, respectable couple who raise cows on their Wisconsin farm. Soon after they agree to put up Frank's old friend Haynes, who is on the lam from a secret government project involving plutonium, they're visited by Welch, an unctuous government bureaucrat from hell. His aggressive patriotism puts Frank, Emma, and Haynes on the defensive, transforming a heartland American household into a scene of torture and promoting a radioactive brand of conformity with a dangerously long half life.