Chaos is Close to God

A family saga, extending over two separate plays. Night, Mother of Day takes place on May 9, 1956, in a run-down hotel. Martin, the proprietor, has recently started drinking again, which he keeps a secret, just like his wife, Elin, keeps her cancer a secret. She coolly rejects the care of her hsband and her son, Georg, who is bound to his mother by a latently incestuous relationship. But the principal character of the play is really David, Georg's younger brother, who celebrates his 16th birthday today. Suffering from an unrequited love for his parents, bullied by Georg and hopelessly confused about his sexual and social identity, David intently listens to the radio report about a murderer's execution. Suddenly he grabs a knife and stabs his mother until she collapses, covered in blood... Ten years later, it is September 17, 1961. It seems to be the same family, older by ten years, although they have different names in Chaos is Close to God. Helen (formerly known as Elin) could no longer keep her cancer a secret. After a last stay in the hospital, she has come home to die. The pubertal confusion of Ricky (David), now 27, was discovered to be psychotic. His brother Frank (Georg) picks him up at a psychiatric clinic, for a brief vacation. In the hotel lobby, which has mutated into a shabby living room, their father Ernst (Martin) is sitting with a strange guest, playing poker. At least, the two brothers have grown closer, although not in regard to their mother. When Ernst eventually finds Helen dead in her room, Ricky's anger goes off in a screaming rant: "I wanted her to die" – an indirect matricide. But the mother is not dead, may never be...