"You may laugh yourself silly..."
- Bloomberg News
She Married a Muslim Man. Her father's a right-wing republican. This isn't going to work.
Key Details
Title: Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them
Writer: Christopher Durang
Genre: Satire, Dark Comedy
Production location: New York
Estimated Budget: $2.6m
Synopsis
A woman suddenly finds herself in crisis: is her husband, whom she married when drunk, a terrorist? Or just crazy? Or both? Is her father involved in a shadow government? Does her mother belong in a mental institution?
Felicity wakes up in a motel next to Zamir. She is white and he is Muslim. They got married last night, yet she has no recollection of ever meeting him. Apparently she was drunk. Zamir claims he loves her and is vehemently against the idea of getting an annulment. Felicity has no intention of staying with him. She asks her parents for help.
Her father, Leonard, who is secretly involved as part of a "shadow government", immediately suspects Zamir is a terrorist and has him followed by his partner, Hildegarde. But in a bizarre chain of events, Hildegarde misinterprets Zamir talking about a pornographic film as finalizing plans for a major terrorist attack. Leonard and Hildegarde capture him.
Of course none of this chaos helps solve Felicity's original problem. She is now torn - she doesn't want to stay married to Zamir, but also doesn't want her father to harm him. What follows is an unusual crackpot comedy, in which our national security is in jeopardy and we find ourselves on the brink of world war.
It's very dangerous to get married when drunk.
From Stage to Screen
WHY TORTURE IS WRONG, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM was written by legendary, Tony Award winning playwright, Christopher Durang. It was initially performed Off Broadway at the Public Theatre in 2009, to rave reviews. It has since been performed all around the world. We are now adapting it to the big screen.
Reviews
"Don't feel guilty about laughing so hard at 'Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them,' Christopher Durang's hilarious and disturbing new comedy about all-American violence."
- The New York Times
”Christopher Durang, master of neurotic urban self-involvement, brings his A game and A+ notion of citizenship to 'Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them.' ”
- Variety
"It’s terrifyingly different and genuinely funny.”
- AussieTheatre.com
"In 'Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them,' Durang accelerates the forces of paranoia, xenophobia and ethnic, religious and class hatreds to produce a fun-house image of where we’re headed if we don’t put on the brakes."
- The Los Angeles Times
"Is there a living playwright more willing to take on the big-picture questions with such unwavering trust in the power of the truly silly?"
- New York Newsday
"With this twisted comedy of post-9/11 rhetoric, porn, and time-travel, Christopher Durang blows the audience away into lunacy."
- Portland Monthly
"You may laugh yourself silly at this silly symphony whose every movement is a scherzo."
- Bloomberg News
"Christopher Durang's 'Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them' is a spot-on socio-political satire of post-Sept. 11 America.”
- The Durango Herald
"If it’s not going to change the world, WHY TORTURE IS WRONG can at least try to make a dent in it, and Durang gets a lot of mileage out of the twin streams of humor and menace that run through his complicated script.”
- New York Magazine
"Christopher Durang is one of America’s most prolific and acclaimed playwrights...He has been described as a social satirist in the great tradition of Aristophanes and Jonathan Swift and Dario Fo and his pen is razor sharp in this, one of his funniest plays.”
- ArtsReview.com.au
"Durang is getting a lot off his chest, and off ours. The laughter he generates is from nonsense about nonsense, unnervingly true and cathartic, and beautifully performed.”
- L.A. Weekly