Closet Land is a story about a twenty-something innocent-looking woman who is taken by force to an interrogation by a single male who is seemingly a government investigator.
Her children's book, CLOSET LAND, is accused of containing subversive messages from some unnamed underground working against the government. The rooster character in the book is posited as the leader of a terrorist cell.
She maintains her innocence as the irony mounts from the questioner's continued belief that she has given hidden signals to fellow insurgents inside what she says is a simple children's story.
Her questioning gets more brutal as she is strapped to a torture table, given drugs, and otherwise molested.
During her torture, she reverts to her childhood-learned ability to withdraw mentally to an imagined world of fictional animal characters which assist her to cope with --in her childhood-- being locked in a closet and --in her torture-- she uses the same technique to survive with her sanity and her consistent denial of guilt.
The interrogator, who may or may not be the man who molested her when she was a child, appears to eventually believe in her innocence but her refusal to sign a confession will apparently result in a chemically-induced lobotomy.
Direction, writing, and acting are all brilliant.
Extremely strong emotional content but no blood nor overt violence. Implied extreme violence. Definitely not for children.
Play | Title | Artist |
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Closet Land
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Hernando's Hideaway
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Oranges and Lemons
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Alan Rickman:
Performer
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Hernando's Hideaway
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Richard Adler:
Performer
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