"Ratopolis"

Booth, Roy C. (American playwright, comic book/games/book store owner, 1965-____), “Ratopolis,”

a 22-minute science fiction drama in English, set in American suburbia, 2045,

1m1f (+ extras)

; • © 1995 by Roy C. Booth; • in Roy C. Booth’s Ratopolis (Bovey, Minnesota, U.S.A.: The Author, 1995) ; • script/rights available from Roy C. Booth, 3811 6th Avenue West, Hibbing, Minnesota 55746, U.S.A., telephone (home) 218-759-0246, (work) 218-759-0246, e-mail roycbooth@hotmail.com. • Cited by Roy C. Booth via ftp February 8, 1999; Booth says,

§ Dramatis Personae Laura (f), a sociological engineer; _____ (m), Laura’s husband.

§ Synopsis “Laura, a sociological engineer for the United States Government, brings home her latest formerly Top-Secret assignment, ‘Ratopolis,’ an in-depth study in overpopulation using rats as test subjects in a multilayered ‘city,’ a study dating back to the 1960s. Although she and her husband find the results interesting, such as rat gang warfare, the separation of classes in rat society, and the eventual ‘moral’ breakdown that leads to the ultimate destruction of the rat community, they are too smug with their own superiority to realize that the experiment mirrors their own over-polluted, under-resourced, overpopulated society and that what happened to the rats can easily happen to them, the human race.

§ Comment “Originally produced by Theatre Unlimited in the Bangsberg Black Box Theatre, Bemidji State University, Bemidji, Minnesota, U.S.A., March 19, 1995. • ‘(Ratopolis is) very good; . . . it’s great to see someone on the same wavelength.’—Ben Adams, Prisonopolis.” § Themes A.D. 1960, A.D. 2045, adumbration, assignment, community, destruction, experiment, gang warfare, human race, moral breakdown, marriage, mirroring, pollution, population, rat, smugness, social class, sociological engineering, test, study, Top-Secret, United States Government.

§ Themes bill, dining, first date, meal order, restaurant, service.

See also:

Booth, Roy C. (American playwright, comic book/games/book store owner, 1965-____),

• "Alvissmal," a 10-minute Skaldic verse drama in English, translated and adapted from Old Norse by Roy C. Booth, set in outside Thrudheim, Thor's home in Asgard, night, ancient Norse mythological era, 2m
• "Cafe a la Ionesco," a 32-minute absurdist farce in English, set in a fancy restaurant in Nymore, Minnesota, Tuesday evening, February 2, 1999, 3m1f
• "Circe," a 5-minute dramatic dance piece in English, set at the gates of Mount Olympus, mythological Greece, 4f
• "The Coat," a 20-minute drama in English, set in a Greek mountain outpost, late night, winter, 1940, 3m1f
• "The Coldest Time of the Year," a 20-minute children's play in English, set in a forest in India, long ago, 3m
• "The Confession," a 25-minute suspense drama in English, set in a small, isolated church, northern Minnesota woods, U.S.A., 1995, 2m
• "Do You Think Dogs Think? Part I" a 10-minute postmodern comedy in English, set in a college office, today, 3m1f (+ extras)
• "He Who Gets Laughed At Last," a 25-minute dark comedy in English, set the dressing room in a comedy club, 1996, 2m2f
• "No Uncertain Terms," a 60-minute postmodern drama on comedy, translated by Roy C. Booth and Peter Birmanns from the German original, set in the headquarters of the Black and White Party, last week, 3m1f (+ extras)
• "The Peasant and the Waterman," a 15-minute children's play in English, set in Old Russia, long ago, 3m1f
• "Vafthrudnismal," a 12-minute Skaldic verse drama in English, translated and adapted from Old Norse by Roy C. Booth, set in Asgard, then the Giant Vafthrudnir's hall, night, ancient Norse mythological era, 2m1f

“Two Wives and a Dead Guy,” a 23-minute comedy in English, set in a funeral parlor, 2000, 2m2f

Booth, Roy C. (American playwright, comic book/games/book store owner, 1965-____) and Shane K. Robertson (American playwright, student, 1967-____)

• “Hello, Crisis Center Hotline?”a 17-minute comedy satire in English, set in a swanky high rise office, 1996, 2m1f

This Website continues under construction and welcomes new citations and comments.

Page mounted April 18, 1999, and updated January 20, July 3, 2000, February 10, 2001, May 8, 2002, February 15, 2003, February 2, April 27, July 22, 2004, by the site Webmaster.
 
 

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