It soared to prominence with Jean-Paul Sartre, bounced back into the limelight through Samuel Beckett and, according to most theatre critics, it ought to have stopped there. Modern existentialist plays often leave audiences questioning their existence for all the wrong reasons.

Yet, the genre doesn’t have to be dry and gloomy. Depicting a darkly farcical encounter involving two conmen in a strange little town, A Fool to his Folly is destined to be different – or is it? I talked to its author and co-director, Victor Rees, about his varied inspirations for the play.

“The idea that started off this project was as far removed from the final script as you can get. I had read a quote about the three most perfect plots in literature being Tom Jones, Oedipus Rex and The Alchemist – the writer seemed to give very little indication of WHY they were so mind-bogglingly brilliant as to be picked out for special praise, but it felt like an intriguing concept all the same.

"In a frankly misjudged display of over-optimism, I reckoned that by combining elements from all three stories I could come up with the most gosh-darn wonderful plot imaginable – a Megazord-hybrid of narrative perfection.

"It soon turned out that this was doomed from the beginning. Those stories work precisely because they’re so different in terms of style, pace and theme. However, the exercise got me thinking more about The Alchemist, Ben Jonson’s brilliant Jacobean comedy, and in particular the idea of con-men as protagonists. I had always enjoyed them as figures in plays and films – it gave opportunities for disguises, role changes, twists, shows within shows… all the possibilities that make theatre exciting and fast-paced.

“They made weighty issues about immortality and fiction seem – dare I say it – fun!”

“The problem was – what’s the con? Do they hire Michael Caine to help them swindle bullion from the Italian mafia? Do they hire Michael Caine to plant thoughts into people’s dreams? What do we do if we can’t get Michael Caine? Clearly, this needed some extra thought. 

“It was through reading Miguel de Unamuno’s Mist that the idea came to me. At the end of the book the protagonist meets up with Unamuno himself, who threatens to wipe him out of existence for being such a nuisance and not doing what he’s told. Now, this isn’t a unique concept – Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Breakfast of Champions ends in a very similar way. However, it felt like a wonderful conceit for a dark comedy – what if it’s not really a fictional character meeting their author? What if it’s someone being tricked into thinking they’re meeting their author?

“After the dry-heaving period that marked the end of exam season, I cracked on and completed a first draft in a few weeks”

“The rest of the plot spiralled out from there. After the dry-heaving period that marked the end of exam season, I cracked on and completed a first draft in a few weeks. Of course, the script would have been nothing without the exceptional help of my co-directors Ruby (“Victor, is there any way you can cut 20 pages out of this draft by tomorrow?” Morris and Noah (“For this scene, how about we start with him screaming ‘yeee-haaaw’?”) Geelan. Harsh editors are your best friends, and it’s been a privilege to work alongside them and a remarkable cast and crew.

Review: How To Lie And Get Away With It

“A Fool to his Folly is a play with many influences, but the main thing I tried to take from them all is the way they made weighty issues about immortality and fiction seem – dare I say it – fun! If it achieves one thing, I hope that it’s to entertain.”

A Fool to his Folly runs at the Corpus Playroom from Tues 14th - Sat 18th February, at 7pm