The God Of Hell

by Sam Shepard

A stunning new play by the great American dramatist



Described by Sam Shepard as 'a takeoff on Republican fascism', this uncompromising black comedy was written just before the 2004 Us presidential election. Frank and Emma are American dairy farmers, alone in the MidWest. Nothing ever happens. Nothing has happened for years. But now there's a mysterious man hiding in their basement and a government official has come knocking at their door. The God of Hell had its European premiere at the Donmar Warehouse, London, on 20 October 2005. 'A robust new farce [that] shows Shepard's gift for finding deadpan surrealism in bucolic speech . . . As hilarious as it is sobering' New York Times 'Deliriously entertaining and deeply scary . . . A shivering work of existential mystery' Newsday 'A funny and furious stab at the Bush Administration' The Times

Genres: Plays, Drama, Fiction, Theatre, Literature, The United States Of America

Paperback

First published April 12, 2005

About the author

Sam Shepard was an American artist who worked as an award-winning playwright, writer and actor. His many written works are known for being frank and often absurd, as well as for having an authentic sense of the style and sensibility of the gritty modern American west. He was an actor of the stage and motion pictures; a director of stage and film; author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs; and a musician.

Reviews

[Helga چـو ایـران نباشد تن من مـباد · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Roya · Rating 3 out of 5]

سیاست همه‌جای دنیا منزجرکننده و بی‌رحمانه و فریبنده‌ست.

[Dream.M · Rating 3 out of 5]

در تلاش برای رسوندن تعداد کتاب ها به بیشتر از صد در سال ۲۰۲۲، به دنبال معنا...
میخواستم ۱۰۴ تا بشه اما ۱۰۱ هم خوبه

[Amirsaman · Rating 1 out of 5]

فرانک: می‌گم دولتی‌یه!
اِما: کدوم دولت؟
فرانک: دولتِ خودمون.
اِما: من که دیگه نمی‌دونم دولتِ خودمون کیه و چه غلط‌هایی داره می‌کنه. تو می‌دونی؟ اصلا «دولتِ خودمون» یعنی چی؟ هان؟
فرانک: معنی‌ش اینه که بیشتر از ماها حالیشه. بیشتر از ماها سرش می‌شه. دنیا دیده‌ست، اِما. دیدِ وسیع داره. برنامه داره!
اِما: دیدِ وسیع دیگه یعنی چی؟
فرانک: یعنی دشمن رو می‌شناسه. می‌دونه دشمنِ ما کیه.
اِما: کدوم دشمن؟

[Mahsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

هینز: هیچ می‌دونی اسم پلوتونیوم رو از چی گرفتن؟
فرانک: چی؟ پلوتونیوم؟
هینز: آره.
فرانک: نه، چیه؟
هینز: پلوتو... خدای دوزخ.

و چه انتخاب مناسبی...
روایت تلخی از سیاست بود که خودش رو تا زیر پوست ساده ترین انسان ها در گوشه ای خلوت از زمین هم می‌رسونه.
روایت پلوتونیوم.

به وقت بیست و هفت دی نود و نه ...

[Behdad Ahmadi · Rating 3 out of 5]

خدای دوزخ نمایشنامه‌ایه درباره‌ی یک زوج ساکن یک خونه و دامداری کوچکی وسط بیابون‌های ایالت ویسکانسین آمریکا، و تقابل‌شون با مفهومی تحت عنوان دولت. دولتی که خودش رو چیزی نه تنها جدا، بلکه ماورای مردم می‌دونه؛ یک دولت تمامیت‌خواه و برتری‌طلب.
نمایشنامه کاملن سیاسیه و هیچ تلاشی برای پنهان کردن پیام‌های سیاسی خودش انجام نمی‌ده، خیلی رک و بی‌پرده حرفش رو می‌زنه. توی بیانش صناعت و ظرافتی نیست، اما جسارت و صراحت هست و این، حداقل برای من جذاب بود.
خدای دوزخِ سه‌پرده‌ای توی شخصیت‌پردازی و روایتش حرف خاصی برای گفتن نداره، روایتش توی چند جمله خلاصه می‌شه و از چهار شخصیت نمایش، عملن دوتاشون وجود خارجی دارن. باقی فقط وسیله‌ن، چرخ‌هایی هستن که همون روایت چند جمله‌ای رو حمل می‌کنن و جلو می‌برن. ولی به هر حال، خوندنش خالی از لطف نیست.

و حرفی که توی گلوم گیر کرده:
ای نشر بیدگل عزیز که کتاب‌هات اونقدر چشم‌نوازن که آدم دلش نمیاد نخره و نخوندشون، چرا این ویراستاری موهن؟ چرا ویراستاری این کتاب اونقدر افتضاحه که آدم تصور می‌کنه داره چت‌های تلگرامی می‌خونه؟ چرا چند ده غلط فاحش دستوری املایی؟ حیف این کیفیت چاپ، حیف این انتخاب خوب نیست؟

[Mahdi Mohamadi · Rating 3 out of 5]

ملت، میهن، دولت، وفاداری، دموکراسی، محرمانه، شکنجه، قدم رو!

نمایشنامه‌ای صریحاً سیاسی به دور از ظرافت که به نظرم در معنا تقریباً گنگ مونده. با کارهای خوب شپرد فاصله داره.

[مِستر کثافت درونگرا · Rating 4 out of 5]

چقدر خوب بود این نمایشنامه، شخصیت پردازی عالی، روایت جذاب، مرسی اقای شپارد و نشر بیدگل عزیز، لذت بردم

[Jesse Keeter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, if only. If only this were the villainous climax. But no. What would this play look like if it were written before the 2016 election? Or the 2020 election? Who would be our dairy farmers then? And to think, Randy Quaid as Frank. How’s that for trajectory, eh?

Pretty weird. Pretty funny. I liked it a lot. Perhaps my favorite couplet:

Haynes: What’s that dripping sound?

Emma: The plants. I overwater them. I can’t help myself.

[Sjkaps · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love Shepard, but his new work doesn't have the emotional impact of his earlier work. The characters in this felt too flat even as the absurd conflict became more intense. Also, his political message was too obvious here. It definitely hurt the dramatic action of the play.

[Maddie Heidari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing and well-paced.

[Craig Werner · Rating 2 out of 5]

An un-subtle take on an un-subtle situation, The God of Hell is Shepard's response to the so-called War on Terror. Set in rural Wisconsin, chosen most likely because of the links with Joe McCarthy, the play hammers the erosion of American freedom in lock-step with Abu Gharib and Guantanemo. There's next to no humor and the politics are sledge-hammer. A long long way from Shepard's best, but when it was produced in 2005, it was making points that needed to be made. I would have liked to have seen Randy Quaid in one of the lead roles.

[Alan Prevallet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plutonium, baby.

[Maryam]

Refrain from rating because I do not like it, but i cannot fail to see its genius.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. Politics. Guantanamo.

[Spencer Fancutt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Picked this up in the uni shop, thinking I hadn't read any drama in a while. I was expecting more than a WTF from Shepard. Ho hum.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never sat down to read a play for pleasure before. I liked it. It reminded me of a graphic novel where the stage directions are the illustrations. Although I had to excercise my imagination a little more because, well, there's no illustrations :) I picked this one up because the Editorial staff at Booklist magazine shared what they had read for fun that year. With all they read for reviews, they don't have much time for pleasure reading. At 98 pages with lots of white space, I was able to read half of this one before I even left the library. It's about a couple living in rural Wisconsin. He takes care of the cows, she takes care of the house. Their hosting one of his friends from college days when a salesmen knocks on their door trying to sell American flag paraphenilia

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

”Few American playwrights have exerted as much influence on the contemporary stage as Sam Shepard. His plays are performed on and off Broadway and in all the major regional American theatres. They are also widely performed and studied in Europe, finding both a popular and a scholarly audience” (short biography of Sam Shepard)

[about my mind · Rating 4 out of 5]

ولچ : خب دیگه ، لازم نیست اینقدر خودتو حیرون زده نشون بدی ، اما جان . چه انتظاری داشتی ؟ لابد فکر میکردی پس پشت دموکراسی ، قراره یه عمر سواری مجانی نصیبت بشه ، هان ؟ راستی این فکرو میکردی ؟ اصلا چه کاری کرده ای که مستحق چنین آزادی بی حد و حصری باشی ؟

سیاست کثیف ترین فریب بشر تا به امروز بوده ، بنظرم ...

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

This little one-act isn't about Watergate, and it wouldn't get you into Rushmore Academy, not if I was in charge. I just didn't really like it. That's all.

[Jose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it.

[Garrett Ingham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good play! Political in nature and very interesting play regarding corporate vs. the American Family...

[Madalyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed this read because it is set in my hometown of River Falls, WI.

[Topher Kielbasa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly sub-par from Shepard. It's as if he left the artist in the backseat and drove as the miffed American instead.

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great writing - would have loved to see a production of this too. Wonderful tension and a nice link between America's recent problems and the fear around McCarthyism.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Shepard's aim here is laudable, I think it's pretty clear he falls a bit short of the mark. The menacing Welch is one of his greatest creations, but the means by which he tortures and bedevils a rural couple and their "houseguest" are thoroughly unimaginative and under-cooked. Much like "States of Shock" (although this is FAR better than that misbegotten farce), there's also a fixation on male anatomy that's by turns obnoxious and dispiritingly obvious.

With that said, I'd probably lean towards 3.5 for this overall. It makes for a brisk read, and I think his emphasis on producing this before the 2004 election was wise. Nowadays, it's hard to imagine anyone getting the point or taking it seriously, media literacy having been under assault now for decades, but I find it heartening (as if there were ever any doubt) that Shepard was so staunchly opposed to the actions of the Bush administration at the time.

The Abu Ghraib imagery here in particular (hell, he even has the character who gets tortured call himself *Graig* throughout) feels clumsy, but what the hell else can you do with something like that? I think this works best when it functions as an expression of otherwise-ineffable rage and sorrow. The clumsiness is somewhat forgivable in that sense.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suspect that this late Shepard play is more entertaining to watch than it is to read. Reminiscent of "Geography of a Horse Dreamer" and "Curse of the Starving Class" in different ways, "The God of Hell" is also Shepard at his most satirical; the play is quite the nasty critique of our government as a network of sadistic ecoterrorists out to destroy the very American Dream which they claim to protect and promote. Can a Wisconsin couple take on g-men when they raid the heifer farm? Hell, no.

[Vincent Eaton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A play from 2005. Stimulated by what occurred in the USA following 9/11. Although not overtly political in nature, it is provocative in going to the logical conclusion of inner warfare of America in the extreme. Not his prime, as his prime was pretty damn high, but a pleasure nonetheless. And with this, I do believe I have read everything Sam has/had written.

[Alex Budris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starkly prophetic. A cry of warning from the early 2000s - the beginning of the end - when it was just becoming too damn late. The humor falls flat in face of the horror, but this is not the playwright's fault. We don't have many artists like Sam Shepard anymore. He is from a different Era.

[Sina Shahbaba · Rating 4 out of 5]

تلاش شپارد برای قصه‌گویی و در عین حال حفظ سبک خود به کمی ساختار‌شکنی از ساختارهای برادوی انجامیده و این توانایی را دارد که مخاطب را با خود نگه دارد.