THE STATESMAn

a play By Joel Marlin

Theatro Technis

10 - 27 SEPTEMBER 2025

A new absurdist comedy about the importance of laughter itself

Nestled deep in the countryside, a village stands defiantly apart from its neighbours – they don't know what comedy is. No one has cracked a joke in generations. 

When a boy is exiled for the forbidden act of laughter, his case catches the eye of the Queen. Intrigued, she dispatches a representative to uncover the truth – and finds a bitter old man whose job it is to teach the people to be funny. As the dull, harmonious peace of the village is disrupted, their stern Governor faces a terrifying dilemma: to protect their way of life, they must become the very thing they are not... funny.

Written by Joel Marlin and directed by Quentin Beroud, this sharply-drawn satire makes its world premiere.