Oblíznout žábu a mísu

Oblíznout žábu a mísu (Lick the Frog and the Bowl)

The play Oblíznout žábu a mísu (Lick the Frog and the Bowl)  was created as a result of a two-year workshop.
The goal  was to write a collective script for an immersive production Poslední zhasne. 
Six playwrights created six original fictional worlds that reflect their attitudes, sense of social satire, and their unique poetics. 
The assignment for writing the play was: Preparations for the end of the world.
The characters of Oblíznout žábu a mísu meditate on a fundamental question – would it be more inappropriate to ignore the possibility of triggering the end of the world, or to lick the toilet bowl? 

Štěpán Vranešic 

He headed towards theatre by studying screenwriting at Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno. During his studies, he developed a dramatic style drawing on the multi-layered nature of his native Hlučín region. There, within sight of the Ostrava steelworks, he learned that the line between laughter and despair is sometimes more than unclear. His exploration of the identity of his region also earned him the Evald Schorm Award for his original play Indian Princess Vladěna. 

The three characters of mother, daughter and the stranger, meet to discuss conspiracy theories. Which one of us can say we are immune to conspiracy theories? Iva is an easy target, a stereotype of a late middle-aged woman who spends all day scouring the internet and social media. It is then easy to say ‘I read somewhere that…’. Her daughter Tereza seems to hate her job, her life and capitalism. She is stuck in the rat race. She has a healthy dose of disdain for her mother who is peddling her conspiracy theories. Surely, Tereza is young and immune to this. Or is she? Enter Dušan, an IV drug user who has checked into rehab and found God, only to soon self-discharge in pursuit of a toxic frog that gets you high when you lick it. In comparison to Iva and Tereza, Dušan is pretty analogue – all he has is his Bible. He appears not to have any power over the two women but somehow, in the end, licking the toilet seat to get high seems a better idea than fighting capitalism by deliberately and repeatedly flushing toilets in large corporations‘ offices.

We discussed the feasibility of translating the play into English. I believe the text lends itself nicely to translation, although we would potentially lose what is clearly an infiltration of English in the language of the younger generation of Czechs. Certain references to specific people were not clear to me as I am not aware of the culturally specific context but the text works despite this, and the people cited would easily be replaced by similar figures who write about the disenfranchised and perhaps easily led people who may fall for conspiracy theories in the British context. Overall, the dark humour of this little play came through the well-crafted dialogue. For further development, the characters would need developing, as well as the overall story arch. As a short play, however, the text works well and provokes thinking about the danger of conspiracy theories as well as the trappings of capitalism. Perhaps the only escape is to lick the frog.