Further Information

Hetjan er nýtt íslenskt leikverk sem er skrifað út frá vangaveltum um áhrif stríðsáróðurs á börn. Verkið varð til eftir að höfundur var á Friðarþingi skáta 2012 og heyrði sögur ungmenna frá Palestínu um hvernig umræðu börnin heyra þar. Þau eru fædd inn í stríð sem þau skilja flest ekki, en eru alin upp í átökunum miðjum.

Verkið sjálft fjallar um 8 ungmenni sem einmitt fæddust inn í stríð. Þau búa í litlu þorpi í ónefndu landi og hafa aldrei þekkt neitt annað en stríð. Við sjáum þau fyrst fjórtán ára, svo sextán, sautján og loks tuttugu og sex ára. Við fáum innsýn í þeirra líf og vonir og hvernig átökin í kringum þau hafa áhrif á hvort draumar þeirra rætast eða ekki.

HERO is centered around a class of eight young people living in a small village in a war-torn country. The eight characters were all born into a war that they do not necessarily understand. Everything they learn about the war is taught to them by a very biased teacher or the army itself. The play focuses on the way their lives are shaped by the war raging all around them, the dread of the inevitable draft that looms on the horizon and the pain of loss.

The play is written as an exploration of the way propaganda shapes people that grow up with it as well as exploring different aspects of being a "hero".

Each of the male characters explores a way of being a hero,( the war hero, the patriotic, dutiful hero, the white knight or the working class hero).

The way the kids are taught to see the enemy, the dreaded Hounds, is as monsters. They are taught that the hounds want to kill them and they have to defend themselves. Of course, the hounds are taught the same about them. A recurring theme in the play is the idea that the heroes only kill the bad men, but who decides who is a bad man?