Hotel Centaur
Drama | 0:24
The absolute absurdity and meaninglessness of life are explored in this dark piece set in a Greek mountain hotel, with a cast of unlikely characters. At the centre of its enquiry into the absurd is a disenchanted hotelier whose last concern is the management of his establishment. Rather, he engages with his guests and staff as though they exist as proof of his torment, each day repeating a series of eccentric and pointless actions. His staff put up with his behaviour.
Each guest that arrives at the Hotel Centaur bears a particular existential burden. From the suicidal boy who reads Kafka and watches his distracted parents dance, to the artist tormented by his blank canvas, to the story’s most unexpected guest, a Japanese man who for the past ten years – inexplicably – has written a polite weekly letter enquiring after the mythical centaurs of the area, and wishes to be shown these creatures. Each character searches, each search is shown to be absurd, with the story culminating in a brutal tragedy that is the fallout of a bad joke, and the confirmation that life provides us with no easy answers.
