A young man in a foreign land.
A minor official in an army of occupation.
Assigned the task of translating the interrogations of secretaries and orderlies. The clerical staff of a defeated regime. Young women considered of low priority in the ‘rehabilitation’ of the native population.
The official has artistic ambitions beyond his military duty and a romantic’s faith in the transcendent power of music. His youthful idealism is sorely tested by his interviewees – women whose survival has been (and will be) determined by their willingness to compromise.
Associating each of his ‘subjects’ with a particular musical refrain, the young man conducts his investigation in the firm conviction that he alone can reanimate the women’s humanity and bring about their redemption.
But once ensnared in an emotionally fraught (and increasingly intimate) relationship with his captives, he begins to doubt not only the purpose of his task but the integrity of his country’s ‘mission’.
This musical play – commissioned by Shady Dolls Theatre Company – reunites Paul Englishby and Steven Dykes in a further exploration of the themes that have characterised their previous collaborations: the tension between converts and non-believers; the guilt of the impotent in a time of crisis; individual promiscuity in the shadow of state prohibition.
Drawing on a panoply of musical sources – from Beethoven to Swing – The Spoils is a witty, provocative and creepy encounter between victim and victor.
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