Ariel, a young student, has an appointment with the Director of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, who will decide on her application. More than a century earlier, the Director at the time, Christian Griepenkerl, rejected the application of a certain Adolf Hitler. A thwarted vocation that would indirectly lead to the disastrous consequences we all know.
Can a seemingly trivial decision, by altering an individual’s fate, change the course of history? We may never know… unless one could go back and test the outcome of a different choice.
This tragicomic play, with a touch of humour, explores the fundamental questions that have haunted humanity since the dawn of time.
Original title in French: Une vocation contrariée
Translation by the author
Cast : 1 man and 1 woman
A play written in March 2025
Spanish translation: Una vocación frustrada by Jean-Pierre Martinez
Portuguese translation: Uma vocação frustrada by Jean-Pierre Martinez
Full Summary
Ariel, a young art student, attends an interview for admission to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. However, a strange temporal phenomenon propels her back to 1907, to the time when another candidate, a certain Adolf Hitler, was denied entry to this prestigious institution. This rejection, seemingly trivial, would nevertheless go on to shape the fate of the entire world.
Through a series of alternate realities, Ariel finds herself confronted with dizzying choices: can the course of history be changed by altering a single individual decision? What are the unpredictable consequences of our actions? Oscillating between nightmare and absurdity, the play explores the butterfly effect on a historical scale and questions the very notion of destiny.
But just as she believes she has understood the rules of the game, Ariel is stunned to discover one final reality in which she herself appears to have taken the place of a despot… to the point where history may be doomed to repeat itself, in another form.
Analysis
A Thwarted Vocation is a tragicomic uchronia that skilfully plays with the concept of time travel and the consequences of human choices. The play revolves around a staggering question: what if one of history’s worst tyrants had taken a different path? Jean-Pierre Martinez constructs a satirical narrative that navigates between absurd humour and philosophical reflection, relying on a dramaturgical structure reminiscent of absurdist theatre and speculative fiction.
Ariel is both lucid and overwhelmed by the situation. Her journey forces her to confront the paradoxes of determinism and free will. Her dialogue with the director of the Academy becomes an intellectual duel in which opposing worldviews clash: academic rationality versus speculation about the future, bureaucratic arbitrariness versus moral responsibility.
The author also plays with historical and cultural references: Hitler’s rejection from the Academy of Fine Arts is a well-documented fact, but its dramaturgical use here opens up dizzying possibilities. The play examines the unpredictability of fate and the fragility of historical crossroads. It reminds us that major events in history have sometimes hinged on the smallest circumstances—an administrative decision, a stroke of luck, a failed exam…
Finally, the cynical and biting conclusion pushes the reflection on power and determinism even further: is history doomed to repeat itself in different forms? By staging a twist in which Ariel herself seems to become the key player in a dystopian future, Martinez confronts us with a chilling and ironic conclusion: ambition, frustration, and power are human constants that do not depend on a single individual, but on a context that allows them to emerge.
Keywords
Time travel, uchronia, free will, destiny, history, paradox, butterfly effect, dictatorship, art, absurdity, satire, dark comedy
Theatrical Genres
– Tragicomedy
– Absurdist theatre
– Uchronia
– Philosophical comedy
– Social satire