THE BOILING FROG

$5.40 – $15.00

This script is part of the Nimrod 50 Collection

The Boiling Frog is the story of four strangers thrown together by their strong desire to live. In 1665 they outwit the Great Plague of London and its fears of witchcraft. In 1776 they escape the coal-fired Age of Enlightenment and its mechanisation of life . They arrive in the twentieth-century’s nuclear age to find a world of science, art and weaponry so awe-inspiring, no one seems to notice that life itself has gone missing.

With music and song, The Boiling Frog presents a dramatic story of ordinary people who challenge the misuse of power. Since The Boiling Frog was first performed in 1984, the nuclear disasters at Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011), the stockpiling conventional and nuclear weaponry and the ongoing burning of fossil fuels make the play's concerns still sharply relevant.

Like the youth who strike for action to prevent extreme climate change, the characters in The Boiling Frog step outside the frame of destruction to demand the wise use of science and power for the sake of humanity and the whole of life. This optimistic piece of theatre is a testament to people's resilience and common sense.

First published by Currency Press in association with Nimrod Theatre Co., 1984.

First produced at Nimrod,1984.

Produced also by Troupe, Adelaide (1984); Cygnet Performing Arts Group, Cygnet and Hobart, Tas. (1987); Riverina Theatre Company, Wagga Wagga, dir. Margaret Davis (1984); Canberra Youth Theatre, dir. Peter Rush (1991).

APT