Sam Shepard: The God of Hell 3m-1k
Frank: He’s from the government! Emma: What government? Frank: Our government. Emma: I don’t know what “our government” is anymore, do you? What does that mean, “our government”? (s.74) Welch: (to Emma) Well, don’t act so surprised, Emma. What did you expect? You didn’t think you were going to get a free ride on the back of Democracy forever, did you? (s.91) 
Shepard kallade sitt nya politiska drama The God of Hell, som skrevs inför det senaste valet i USA, “a takeoff on Republican fascism” ( www.departments.bucknell.edu/theatre_dance/shepard/shepard.html). Pjäsen hade sin urpremiär off-off-broadway i höstas. Handlingen av denna groteska satir utspelar sig på Frank och Emmas gård i Wisconsin, “Americas Dairyland”. Paret får sällskap av den vettskrämda Haynes, en avlägsen vän till Frank, som försöker fly från en påstådd regeringskris. Plötsligt dyker Welch upp, en mystisk säljare som snart lyckas underkuva alla med sitt inställsamma sliskiga och dominanta sätt. Pjäsen tar ett groteskt slut. Frank och Emma berövas hem och identitet och flyter vilsna omkring någonstans mellan det mytiska förflutna och en otrygg nutid.
Shepard: ”We’re being sold a brand-new idea of patriotism. It never occurred to me that patriotism had to be advertised. Patriotism is something you deeply felt. You didn’t have to wear it on your label or show it in your window or on a bumper sticker. That kind of patriotism doesn’t appeal to me at all.” (www.donshewey.com/teater_articles/sam_shepard_vv.html) ”This deft, brief, dark comedy suggests that totaliarianism and U.S. government- approved torture are just around the corner. […] In “The God of Hell”, Shepard leaves no doubt where he stands. The image of Welch dragging along a black- hooded Haynes comes straight out of photographs of tortured Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The men’s exit looks like a variation of a Nazi goosestep. America, in Shepard’s view, has turned dangerous indeed.” (hollywoodreporter)
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