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Be fruitful and multiply!

freely adapted from Heinrich Lautensack's "Parsonage Comedy".

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Charackters

Eugeniusz (Gienek), pastor.

Celestyn, Cooperator.

Marta - Housekeeper

Magda - Young housekeeper

It takes place in a rectory in the countryside in Poland.

ACTION

The second of the three scenes took place approximately three weeks after the first; and the third four months after the second.

Behind the venerable walls of the rural rectory of the Reverend Eugeniusz, tensions are running high.

The elderly housekeeper, Marta, is pregnant, and it was the parish priest himself who intervened in the natural order of creation. To conceal the impending scandal and her growing belly from the village community, the classic clerical emergency plan is activated: Marta must leave for a few months, supposedly to care for her "terminally ill mother."

The young Magda arrives as maternity leave cover.

But anyone who believes that her arrival will bring pious peace is sorely mistaken. Magda is well-versed in the Bible, incredibly clever, and immediately sees through the hypocritical lies of the clergymen. While Pastor Eugeniusz tries to absolve himself of his sins theologically, the squeaky-clean, chronically naive assistant pastor Celestyn also finds himself in the sights of the new, emancipated housekeeper.

It doesn't take long before Magda uses the holy scriptures as a highly efficient weapon of seduction – and the moral house of cards of the Church collapses spectacularly.

REVIEWS

Words from the editor:

Fred Apke's "Be fruitful and multiply!" is a razor-sharp chamber piece about double standards, carnal desires, and the art of reinterpreting sin as a divine duty. A pitch-black comedy.

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