About the Play:

Abrogate is a full-length dark comedy by Larry Gelbart. Examines the long-term consequences of the Bush-era White House through an imaginary congressional hearing to explore the human rights abuses under the Bush regime. Abrogate is a political satire from the acclaimed film, theatre, and television legend who wrote the record-breaking hit TV series of M*A*S*H and the smash hit movie Tootsie.

Abrogate deals acerbically with the shifting value of the notion of human rights under the presidency of George W. Bush. President Hillary Clinton is now in the White House and, in an attempt to sift through the debris of the Bush and Cheney years, holds a congressional hearing investigating and how the atrocities during the previous administration could have possibly happened. Was it deceitful? As the hearing progresses, some shocking truths about the infamous conservative leaders are revealed. Abrogate deals head on with the conduct of the Iraq war, its abrogation of human rights and its consequences, but M*A*S*H creator Larry Gelbart avoids the pitfalls of direct criticism and soapbox theatre to make his points through comedy, often outrageous and surreal.

Abrogate is a one-off radio comedy written in 2006 for BBC Radio 4's Friday Play slot. Conceived as a broadcast by the fictional AGN (the All Gates Network), the script is particularly suitable for readers' theatre.

Cast: 3 female, 6 male

What people say:

"Abrogate an hour-long play by Larry Gelbart ... is to social satire what gin is to tonic. He is funny in a way that makes you feel glad to be alive but leaves you with an almighty hangover compounded of raging conscience and roaring anger." — The Telegraph

"...every line is a barbed swipe, a dazzling barb that hits home." — Radio Times

"It could be heavyweight humour but Gelbart uses sharp comedy to keep the satire rattling along." — The Evening Standard

"Don't miss this new political satire." — The Observer

"Larry Gelbart pulls no punches as he launches a merciless broadside at the Bush administration." — The Times

"The administration ... is surely ripe for satire. And who better to pen such a work than Larry Gelbart, one of America's funniest and most penetrating satirists, and the man who brought us M*A*S*H*." — The Scotsman

About the Playwright:

Larry Gelbart (1928-2009) was an American television writer, playwright, screenwriter and author. His writing credits date back to the Golden Age of radio. He is most famous as a creator and producer of TV comedy M*A*S*H (the hit show ran for 11 seasons and picked up countless awards, including the Best Comedy Series Emmy for its debut season), but he also penned the musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and the film Tootsie which earned him an Academy Award nomination and best screenplay honours from the New York, Los Angeles and National Film Critics organization.