FIRST CLASS CITIZEN (2022/2025)

Matěj Balcar

Translation: Pavlina O´Toole
Genre: tragicomedy
Cast: 4 men, 3 women

Have you ever wondered how nice it would be if a certain part of the population was not allowed to vote? If not, David Mark, a successful satirical TV show host, had that idea for you.

During the three hundredth anniversary episode of his show, he decides to test his brave social experiment on the audience, through which he would like to show society that, if there is a will, we can get along as humans. He therefore randomly selects five viewers from the audience from different social groups and opinions, and forms a hypothetical committee to evaluate classes of citizens. This committee should, through mutual cooperation and during a live broadcast of their dialogue, create a list of points on which basis, accordingly, we should, in an ideal democracy, grant or take away the right to vote. However, throughout the evening, this innocent fun will prove to be an almost superhuman task. The five guests, shy at the start, will not only begin to ridicule each other, but will also verbally insult each other, escalating into a wild clash of opinions with far-reaching consequences. A confident young man at first, the TV host loses control not only of his own show, but above all, of his life.

The tragicomedy First Class Citizen is a reaction to the ever-deepening division in western societies. Through the character of a somewhat self-absorbed young TV host, who considers himself a master in combining pressing social issues with tabloids, we recognize how far intolerance and conviction of one's own and only truth can take us. I personally notice a parallel between the TV host and myself as the author of the play, trying to do the same thing as David Marek, hopefully with a little more success - to remind people that if democracy has problems, we should not overcome democracy, but the problems. And the main problem now is us.

Have a pleasant reading and faith in humanity, even if it is difficult. Matej Balcar

The play was nominated for the prize for The best first staged Czech play of the year 2022 at the Theatre Critics’ Awards.

  The play is available in the Czech original and English translation.