←Recommendations of Plague Play

A stellar work that discusses the plagues in a way that feels very relatable to a modern audience. The story of Exodus is no longer simply a discussion of the obvious victims, but the what it means to be at fault for something that feels biblical or meant to be. Who are we when we destroy? Can we come back from it? Hilarious and clever, one of Erin's best works.

Recently read this and finished it in one sitting. This play explores the story of the Ten Plagues in such an interesting way. The characters are at constant odds with the situation they are in and it all engenders interesting moral implications of the ten plagues. Aaron being the source of the ten plagues complicates the situation immensely, and the play answers every question that might come up in a graceful and plot driven way. Truly, a very compelling adaptation.

I had the pleasure of seeing this show recently at IATI theater in NY, and it quickly became one of my favorite plays I've seen all year. Erin Proctor's examination of the effects of the ten plague's on not just its victims, but also its prophets is bitingly funny, cleverly thought out, and above else brutal. Proctor's adaptation asks you to forget all other versions of Exodus you may already know, and to look at the story for what it truly is; a terrifying holy war where no side makes it out unscathed.

I was fortunate enough to catch a production of “Plague Play” and good God (maybe, what the hell is God doing here? It doesn’t seem as angelic as it should be?). A nuanced, incredible exploration of cycles of violence and war, justification, hope, grief, and aid. These four characters are so well-written: distinct, layered, each struggling to understand what they are encountering in real-time. The spectacle is largely kept off-stage, letting the words and performances take our imaginations to the darkest places of human suffering. A deftly structured descent (ascent? spiral?) into lament, anguish, and amidst it all, gratefulness.

A play about violence and suffering. A play about the cost of war. I need to see this fully produced. Lots of opportunities for unique stagecraft.

To be a vessel with a fulfilled role, a pour fate emptied out upon the land. Like wine to white sheets does the blood fall upon the thirsty ground. Does it drink, does it stain?

Proctor's Plague Play contains and releases, a new conduit for old energy, that remarkably adapts chapters 7-11 of Exodus into a form begging to filled and perceived once again, with loving characters beset by the reckoning they find themselves a part of.

We must ask ourselves in the end, are the things we release out into the world still within us?

Proctor fearlessly tackles big questions about God, suffering, and what exactly we owe to the people around us, especially our enemies. This is a fascinating piece with lots of spiritual and practical challenges to grapple with.

Guilt is a powerful weapon. Proctor skillfully adapts the early chapters of Exodus to create a piece that opens up these biblical figures and showcases their deepest feelings out on stage for the world to enjoy.

Proctor's "Plague Play" is once hilarious absurdist comedy, animal-themed magic show, and body horror; taken from the most troubling sequence from the Exodus story. The poetic and profane coexist as plagues emerge from Aaron's body, and Moses sees those with whom he grew up die one after another. At the same time, Aaron and Miriam find themselves bonding with their long lost younger brother Moses and his wife Tzipporah.

This play dramatizes the plagues from the Book of Exodus, but from a perspective I had never even considered: Aaron's body creates the plagues, and causing widespread sorrow like that takes a toll on a person emotionally (not to mention the physical toll of, say, vomiting up frogs). Watching the toll each plague takes on Aaron, the guilt Moses feels in what he's doing to both his adopted and biological brothers, and how the women are the rocks who hold things together is fantastic. Also there's a joke about golf balls that I wasn't expecting but absolutely adored.