Set in Paraguay during the 1860s War of the Triple Alliance. The megalomaniac President Lopez has married Madame Lynch, a Parisian courtesan. His ignorance and her egotism together bring ruin on the country and themselves. Against this violent background of bungled diplomacy, death and superstition, is set an allegory of conflicting values, where visions of the civilised arts of peace sacrifice a nation to its own barbarity.
Author Biography:
LOUIS NOWRA was born in Melbourne. His plays include Page 8 (with David Page), The Woman With Dog's Eyes, The Marvellous Boy, The Emperor of Sydney, Inner Voices, Visions, Inside The Island, The Precious Woman, Sunrise, The Golden Age, Capricornia, Byzantine Flowers, The Watchtower, Summer of the Aliens, Cosi, Radiance, The Temple, Crow, Miss Bosnia, The Incorruptible, The Jungle and The Language of the Gods. He has translated The Prince of Homburg, Cyrano de Bergerac and Lulu for the stage. He has also written the libretti for Whitsunday and Love Burns. For television he has written Displaced Persons, Hunger and The Lizard King and for film, Map of the Human Heart, Cosi, Heaven's Burning, Radiance, K-19: The Widowmaker and Black and White. His radio plays include Albert Names Edward, The Song Room, The Widows, Sydney and The Divine Hammer. Other writings include nonfiction works The Cheated, Warne's World and Walkabout (in Currency's Australian Screen Classics series); four novels The Misery of Beauty, Palu, Red Nights and Abaza; and two memoirs, The Twelfth of Never and Shooting the Moon. Nowra has won multiple awards and prizes, and lives in Sydney.