To Be or Not To Go Dark Side – We’ve All Questioned This: THE TALE OF SAN MERAUX

By Elisabeth McGowan

       We’ve all crossed over to the dark side at least once. That side is different among everyone, depending on what their level of “bad” is. And you have to admit it – sometimes, it’s easier to be angry, vengeful or destructive. You get caught up in talking about that one person you’re just dying to tell off, and make them pay the price for what they did. But in the end, you’re exhausted. All that anger and revenge just filled you up to the point where you’re drained – you couldn’t take it anymore. 

         There are always two stereotypical categories to this situation: the superhero and the villain. If you’re the hero, you were the “mature” one and didn’t use intense anger on the other person, no matter what they did. And you of course won. As the villain, you just threw everything on the table. You sacrificed your strength and in the end lost anyway. But what if a hero has to be the villain? What if the villain is actually the hero? Perhaps you actually had to do something pretty big to get your point across. Maybe that person had it coming to them and you actually spent time thinking this through – how you’re going to face them.

     So why resist “evil” for lack of a better term? Why try to always contain that vengeance and betrayal? Why avoid that cleverness you were gifted with? These are life questions we ask ourselves every time we encounter a problem with somebody; they just appear in our subconscious. Like the devil and the angel on our shoulders telling us what to do – that devil maybe be right for once (but usually not all the time).

      This is precisely what Robert John Briksza conveys in his surprising play, The Tale of San Meraux. A wealthy villain, San Meraux, creates the Merauxvian II laser cannon to take out an arch nemesis, the Hero Hyperion, who stands in his way of complete domination. He has the tenacity to go through with his plan; he just needed a right hand man. In this case, a right hand (wo)man, Artemis. Why does she really take the dark side? What is their next move as San Meraux and Artemis set out to reach their goal of conquering? Who is the emblem of real villainy?

     Comment below and find out at the Riant Theatre’s Strawberry One-Act Festival, July 15th, 20th, 22nd, and the 25th at the Theater at St. Clement’s: 423 West 46th Street, New York.

THE TALE OF SAN MERAUX By Robert BrikszaSan Meraux is a billionaire villain who is too smart for his own good.  He has built a laser Cannon The Merauxvian II and he plans to use it to take over the world.  The only thing in his way is the super Hero Hyperion, who has one weakness, the beauty that is San Meraux’s right hand man, Artemis.

 

Saturday, July 15^th at 9pm
Thursday, July 20^th at 7pm
Saturday, July 22^nd at 1pm
Tuesday, July 25^th at 7pm

 

Tickets: $25 Online, $27 at the Box Office
Premium Seats: $30 Online, $35 at the Box Office

 

At the Theatre at St. Clement's
423 West 46th Street, NYC
Between 9th & 10th Avenue

 

For tickets, click here.