Judgment Day

A Poignant Exploration of Betrayal & Guilt

Influential theatre and opera maker Richard Jones CBE returns to the Park Avenue Armory armed with a surprising revival of Austro-Hungarian-German playwright Odon Von Horvath's little performed yet gripping moral fable Judgement Day. Written in 1937 when Horvath was expelled from Germany by the Nazi's, the thought-provoking drama mirrors the guilt the writer felt at not being able to signal and divert the oncoming darkness of the Reich's regime.

Adapted by Pulitzer Prize finalist Christopher Shinn, Judgement Day follows the usually fastidious German stationmaster Hudetz and the tragedy of a fatal train crash he causes when he is distracted by the kiss from the local innkeeper's daughter Anna. During the investigation, Anna covers up the kiss and is believed whilst his angry wife, who saw the whole thing unfold, is reviled when she tells the real story. However, the truth is never far from the surface and as guilt eats away at Hudetz and Anna, a judgement day swiftly approaches....