Logician, lover, misogynist, poet, Nietzsche is a contradictory genius for our time, a psychological colossus astride our cultural abyss: - one day he fell in love with a girl half his age... A radical new play about Nietzsche, 'To Hell in a Handcart' dares to bring our era's greatest philosopher to life at a crisis moment in his turbulent existence. Unfolding in one tumultuous month in the heat of Italy and the stark purity of the German Alps, the play pitches the forces of love and logic against each other in the arena of Nietzsche's obsession with 20 year old Lou Salome. The resulting confrontation threatens to destroy the great philosopher.... Seriously? A play about Nietzsche? Certainly, to pick up one of Nietzsche's books is to be conscious of the spiritual dynamite in one's hands. ('I am not a man. I am dynamite' Ecce Homo.) The question then follows: to what use will one put this spiritual explosive in one's own life? Certainly, any playwright even remotely respectful of the psychological proportions of this cultural colossus must deal with the problem of reducing Nietzsche to the status of a mere foil for yet another tedious romance. Nietzsche was, of course, infinitely more than a mere romantic. That said, his proverbially doomed love for Lou Salome did mark a pivotal point in his artistic, philosophical and spiritual career. Indeed, he was to observe afterwards in a letter 'if I cannot turn even this muck to gold then I am lost...'. To this extent, then, it seemed to me valid to depict Nietzsche as these formidable forces confronted him and impinged both on his common humanity and his uncommon philosophical aspirations. In THHC, Nietzsche's obsession with Salome thus becomes the fulcrum upon which he determines the veracity and depth of his own philosophical insights: if they are true and real, then they must prove so at all times, especially including, of course, where THHC is concerned, under the tumultuous stress of his relationship with Salome. Add to this fact the consideration that it is always fascinating to see how great hearts and minds react under pressure, then you have my motivation for depicting Nietzsche in this way and at this precise time in his life. Great souls pass on the tradition of humanistic excellence to successive generations - without them vision founders. In our age, beset as it is by materialistic and corporate forces seeking to eclipse man's hunger and capacity for that same spiritual excellence, Nietzsche's crucial message has never been more relevant.
About the Author: Born in 1957, James Murphy grew up in the suburbs of South London. He graduated in Philosophy from the University of East Anglia at Norwich. He then worked in several different fields (sometimes literally), including journalism and teaching. During the 1980s, he lived in Tuscany. He now lives in Sussex, having recently fled over the border from Hampshire, where his house burned down (as per Nietzsche's Vesuvian exhortation). In addition to a novel, Crash the Bus, he has also written three further plays, Poets (about Byron & Shelley), Stroke and Disposophobia. He has also authored three collections of poetry: The Misanthropist's Secret Love Life, The Art of Exile and Lyrical Cynicism. A cultural and literary critique, Handbook for the Damned is currently going through the press. He is married with a son.