It was during the 20th century that science fiction began to develop as a distinct genre in theatre. Visionary writers such as Karel Čapek, author of the famous play R.U.R. in 1920, introduced groundbreaking concepts like robots and artificial intelligence to the stage. Over time, other playwrights, including Ray Bradbury and Jean Tardieu, contributed to theatrical science fiction, exploring futuristic worlds, advanced technologies, dystopian societies, and ethical dilemmas.
Several plays by Jean-Pierre Martinez and numerous sketches are set in a future, near or distant, allowing for the humorous exploration of philosophical, ethical, or social questions. The plays vary in tone, ranging from outright farce to tragicomedy.
1. Science Fiction Plays
Peter, a dedicated researcher, stumbles upon the formula for eternal life. Faced with the potential unforeseen consequences, he contemplates keeping the discovery a secret. Yet, his wife, longing for perpetual youth, and her lover, desiring immortality, are unwilling to make such a sacrifice.
In a future where assisted suicide has been replaced by voluntary recycling, a man and a woman, who met just before their reconditioning, reappear in the very ordinary home of the outdated couple they are meant to replace. Is there anything left of love when everything has been forgotten?
Four passengers who have nothing in common are participating in a tourist trip in space. The cohabitation is going more or less smoothly until the control tower announces to them that due to an oxygen leak, they will have to be evacuated urgently. The problem is: there won’t be enough air for everyone. One of them must sacrifice themselves, otherwise they will all perish. They have one hour to find the one who will show « The Right Stuff ».
Three people who do not know each other are summoned to participate in a jury. At least, that's what they were told. But the place where they have been gathered is not a courtroom. They learn that they are there to decide together how to manage the consequences of an inevitable catastrophe that will strike the world in the very near future. Opinions diverge, and numerous twists and turns keep the debate alive. Throughout this immersive performance, the audience will also be called upon to express their opinions to guide them in their choices, so that they can make the best possible decision to face the worst imaginable situation.
Five strangers with nothing in common wake up locked in an unfamiliar place. Who brought them there, and for what purpose? The arrival of their two kidnappers only raises more questions than answers. Setting aside their differences, the hostages must work together, prioritizing the collective goal to survive and find a way out—carefully avoiding any missteps along the way.
A couple of astronauts are on their way to Mars with the intention of establishing a colony and laying the foundations for a new, more humanistic humanity. Following a mysterious accident, this space journey turns into a voyage through time. Between a dystopian future and a past carrying the seeds of impending disasters, it may be tempting to want to rewrite history… and perhaps even the Bible!
Set during prehistoric times that might well be yet to come, Newanderthals and Bohosapiens live together in perfect harmony. But two human species… isn’t that at least one too many?
On a Planet Earth ravaged by climate change and rendered uninhabitable, mankind is living out its final hours. Two men and two women are set to take off in a spaceship for an unknown planet that might be their only chance for survival. The mission of these four « chosen ones » is to give humanity one last chance to save itself and carry on its evolution. But does mankind deserve a second chance if self-destructive madness caused its extermination? The passengers cannot agree…
Some sketches also explore science fiction themes (non-exhaustive list): Time Lag, Green Sky, Lost Time, Kushim, Tracking Shot, Side Effects, Standard Exchanges, In Color…
2. Themes of Science Fiction
Jean-Pierre Martinez explores classic science fiction themes but subverts the usual conventions to highlight the absurdities of our society, behaviors, and beliefs.
Space Exploration and Futuristic Worlds
In One small step for a woman, one giant leap backward for Mankind, the goal is to rebuild a new humanity on Mars.
Brian – What Mission to Mars proposes is to start everything over. Somewhere else. And that somewhere else is the red planet. My friends, we are going to create a new world. A new civilization. A new man.
The sketch Time Lag (in Lost Time Chronicles) portrays a passenger of an airline preparing to board a rocket:
Her – This time, it’s on schedule. They’ve just announced that your rocket is about to take off any moment now. I won’t say goodbye. By the time you’re back, I’ll probably no longer be around. I’m doing the solar system tour these days. There’s almost no annual time lag. It’s much less exhausting.
Him – Especially when you have kids…
Her – You leave them at daycare, and by the time you’re back from work, they’ve finished medical school… So, bon voyage!
Dystopias and Futuristic Utopias
Characters in a Science Fiction Context
In Jean-Pierre Martinez’s theatre, there are no superheroes or superheroines. The characters are ordinary people, with their strengths and flaws, facing extraordinary events. In the play One small step for a woman, one giant leap backward for Mankind, the two protagonists are described as a “heroic couple who will lay the foundations of a true Martian city.” Yet, from their very first interactions, it becomes clear that this couple is far from being either a model pair or heroic in any sense.
2. Aliens and Other Fantastic Beings
In Offside, two aliens have taken on human form and engage in conversation with the humans they have abducted. As in all of Jean-Pierre Martinez’s plays, irony dominates these initial exchanges:
Alex – Martians… Seriously? You must be joking! You could’ve at least put in some effort with the special effects.
Fred – This feels like something from a low-budget channel.
Bob – You’re just like us!
Carla – We’re not expecting you to be green with antennae instead of eyes, but still.
Bob – We know that extraterrestrials can’t be exactly like humans!
Alpha – Indeed. We’re different from you.
Omega – Not at all, actually. You might be surprised.
Alpha – We’ve simply taken on a human appearance so as not to frighten you too much.
Omega – And we’ve learned your language to communicate with you.
The aliens in Jean-Pierre Martinez’s sketches observe our actions with perplexity, highlighting our strange habits and, above all, our contradictions.
The Tools of Exploration and Time Travel
“This rocket is a prototype. It is powered by reactors using an entirely new technology, supposedly allowing us to travel at the speed of light.”
The sketch Lost Time (in Lost Time Chronicles) depicts two future archaeologists discovering a clock:
One – Do you think this device could indicate the current time?
Two – Who knows…
One – But what’s the point of a device that tells you the present? It’s like a sign saying, “You are here.” We already know that!
Two – We do, yes…
One – A primitive civilization that needed machines to locate themselves in the present moment?
Two – It’s a theory.
One – Can you imagine that? You wake up in the middle of the night and don’t even know what time it is. You’d have to look at a machine to figure out if it’s time to get up or not…
Two – Fascinating job, isn’t it?
One – And how did they travel back in time?
Two – Maybe they turned the hands of the clock backward?
(The first archaeologist tries to turn the hands backward, unsuccessfully.)
Two – No, it only moves in one direction. Apparently, these people could only travel into the future.
One – No reverse gear—imagine that! You couldn’t afford to make mistakes…
Two – They must have been a very primitive civilization.
In the sketch Travelling (in Some Stories to die for), a man is at a travel agency selecting his next trip through time.
Alternative Realities
In Stories and Prehistories, two human species, the Sapionces and the Nandertals, coexist peacefully in a future reminiscent of prehistoric times.
Jacky – You are right… A simple life… Healthy food… Sometimes, I wonder what civilization has really brought us, the Newanderthals… (Her mobile phone rings, and she answers.) Edouard? No, I’m in the cave right now, with the Bohosapiens… I’ll hang up, the reception is very bad in this cave… Are you joining us? Okay, see you in a bit… (She puts away her phone.) Excuse me… The first thing I would throw away if I were to become a beast like you is my mobile phone…
3. The Underlying Message
Exploration of Philosophical and Ethical Questions
Technological and Biotechnological Advances
In Surviving Mankind, Dans Après nous le Déluge, les personnages s’interrogent sur la réalité de leurs connaissances.
Eve – On Earth, everything seemed simple because thousands of generations had passed down their experience to us, distinguishing edible plants from toxic ones, harmless animals from dangerous ones, hospitable regions from uninhabitable ones…
Juliet – We’ll have to learn everything all over again. Danger will be everywhere. Every step we take will be a leap into the unknown. And as there are only four of us, we won’t have the right to make any mistakes.
Eve – We were selected for our skills in medicine, aeronautics, astrophysics, biology… But in a completely new and possibly hostile world?
Romeo – We know things. We’re not starting from scratch. We’re not cavemen.
Eve – Our knowledge is purely theoretical. What use will it be to us to know how a car, a computer, or a phone works when we no longer have an industry to produce them?
Juliet – We’ll have to start from scratch. Learn to build a shelter, hunt with a bow, make fire with two flints, light a torch…
Adam – And prehistoric man knew a lot more about that than we do.
Eve – After two or three generations, our beautiful memories of the world before will become completely useless and turn into fabulous tales that our descendants will end up forgetting.
Adam – Or they will start distorting and embellishing them to create a new Bible.
In A brief moment of eternity , a scientist claims to have discovered the serum for eternal life and examines the consequences of his discovery.
Peter – I’ve been working on this project for years. I’ve had time to reflect on the consequences that immortality could have on humanity.
Diana – And…?
Peter – I think it would be hell…
Vince – Hell? You’re exaggerating.
Peter – Not to mention the economic and social upheavals, which would be significant; there would be no more generational turnover. Why bother having children when you live forever?
Vince – I’ve managed just fine without children so far. You too, right? So, what’s the problem?
Peter – We would all be sentenced to exist in a world of elderly individuals, confined within youthful bodies. A stagnant reality where the concept of evolution finds no foothold.
Vince – Evolution isn’t always a good thing.
Diana – Especially when it evolves for the worse.
Peter – No, life should persist as a circle. A cycle if you prefer. Not an infinite straight line leading to nowhere.
Environmental Issues
In nearly all of Jean-Pierre Martinez’s plays within the science fiction genre, the focus is placed on humanity’s responsibility for destroying its environment and planet.
In Surviving Mankind, the characters deliver a bitter and desperate assessment of humanity’s presence on Earth and the resulting catastrophes.
Juliet – Earth used to be a paradise. We created this hell ourselves.
Romeo – Not a piece of ice left… Not a drop of fresh water… Not a patch of land to set foot on… And this temperature keeps rising. The process is set in motion. This time it’s irreversible…
Juliet – We should have stopped this infernal machine earlier.
Romeo – Yes… but now it’s too late. We have to think about the future…
Juliet – The future?
Romeo – Whether we like it or not, it’s the end of our world. The only thing we can still hope for is to save our own skins.
Juliet – We caused the extinction of all the animals that lived on this planet. Now it’s our turn. We are the last specimens of a dying species. And if we die without descendants, humanity will die with us.
See the article on Ecology in the Theatre of Jean-Pierre Martinez for more on this topic.
Humanity’s Quest
Does humanity deserve to be saved? This question lies at the heart of the play Surviving Mankind.
Adam – What if that habitable planet is already inhabited?
Juliet – Inhabited?
Eve – By intelligent beings.
Romeo – If that’s the case, we’re probably talking about a primitive civilisation. We haven’t seen any signs of advanced life. Radio waves, artificial satellites, cities emitting light or heat…
Adam – They might be environmentalists…
Romeo – Or savages.
Adam – Savages?
Eve – When we see what the Spanish did to the Incas when they landed in America… Yes, there may be a glimmer of salvation. But at what cost? I agree with Adam, we have to ask the question: does mankind deserve to be saved?
Adam – It would be a service to the world to prevent it from being saved.
In Offside, two aliens are sent to determine whether humans deserve to continue living or if Earth can be repurposed as a dumping ground. They abduct some French people to understand everything that makes life worth living: love, humor, gastronomy, football…
This theme is also explored in the sketch Side Effects, where two characters suffer from the side effects of a vaccine and transform into a wolf and a sheep.
Political Commitment and Social Critique
The denunciation of the power of money in Surviving Mankind:
“If humanity had cared more about philosophy than profit, we wouldn’t be in this mess… It’s out of selfishness and greed that mankind sawed off the branch it was sitting on.”
Critique of Oppressive Societies
The play Quarantine is set in a dystopian society where laughter is forbidden.
Dom – I am part of a group.
Pat – A terrorist group?
Dom – Yes, sort of. We hold secret meetings. We tell jokes, and we laugh. Well, we try …
Pat – Crazy jokes?
Dom – Do you have to be crazy to make fun of the authorities? Or of our Supreme Guide …
Pat – But criticizing the authorities is strictly forbidden, isn’t it? And disrespecting the Supreme Guide is blasphemy.
Dom – Back in the day, blasphemy wasn’t illegal.
Pat – How do you know all this?
Dom – We found books.
Pat – Books?
Dom – And newspapers.
Pat – What’s that?
Dom – It’s like tablets, but the letters are made of black ink printed on paper.
Pat – Like packaging?
Dom – And since it can’t be shared on a network they can’t control it.
Pat – So if course, it’s illegal.
Dom – There was a time when it wasn’t … It was a different time.
Pat – I can’t remember.
Dom – No one can remember. The authorities did everything they could to make everyone forget. By burning all the books, among other things.
Pat – This laugh thing …
Dom – “To laugh is proper to man”, they used to say. It’s what separated us from other social animals like bees, ants or termites …
Pat – We also have intelligence.
Dom – But for how much longer … Professors have become trainers. Politicians are reformators. Software engineers are data collectors and only a step away from becoming computers themselves …
Social Reflection on Inequalities and Justice
In Déjà Vu, a “recycled” couple is tasked with replacing a man and a woman deemed obsolete by the system.
She hangs up.
Man 2 – Well?
Woman 2 – It’s the Ministry of Being or Not Being.
Man 2 – Ah, yes… Used to be called the Ministry of Being and Nothingness, I think.
Woman 2 – Ministries change names with every government.
Man 2 – And?
Woman 2 – They said they’re our replacements.
Man 2 – Our replacements? What do you mean?
Woman 2 – They reviewed our file. We’re not efficient enough. We don’t work anymore. We don’t consume enough. We’re ill too often. And our carbon footprint is catastrophic.
Man 2 – So?
Woman 2 – They’re replacing us.
Through his plays and sketches, Jean-Pierre Martinez brings a fresh perspective to the genre of science fiction theatre, blending humor and irony to offer original insights into the human condition, society, and the conventions of the genre.