At This Evening's Performance

THE STORY: On tour in rural Dunsk (recently annexed by the hated socialist state of Strevia) a theatrical troupe is obliged to present corny melodramas and creaky verse plays as modern drama has been banned by their new masters. Led by a hammy egomaniac (who has amorous designs on the company's ingenue) and his Amazonian wife (who is herself in panting pursuit of the group's handsome juvenile), the actors seem more concerned with romantic assignations than politics until they discover that their new stage manager is a Strevian spy. To make matters worse, it also develops that one of the lines in the play of the evening is a secret cue for subversive activity and that the speaker (a member of the underground) will be summarily disposed of by a gunman in the audience. All this reaches its hilarious climax in a wildly funny play-within-a-play in which the wrong man is shot, the right man is spared, and the Players of Dunsk decide to head for the border-and freedom in the West.Jackson, Nagle is the author of 'At This Evening's Performance' with ISBN 9780822200741 and ISBN 0822200740.