Roundheads and Peakheads
by Bertolt Brecht

Yahoo faces a crisis: the nation’s poor, led by the noble Sickle League, are in danger of overthrowing the rule of the rich landlords.

The “Big Five”, the nation’s behind-the-scenes manipulators, conclude that the incompetent Viceroy must be replaced, at least temporarily, by a political turnaround artist, Governor Iberin.

Iberin’s strategy: to distract the poor from their grievances by inciting them to an internecine war between the Zaks – folks with round heads – and the minority Ziks, who have pointy heads.

When a peasant farmer seeks relief from the oppressive rent his landlord – who happens to be one of the big five – charges, his cause seems hopeless.

But Governor Iberin has a different angle: the landlord, a Zik, admittedly had sex with the Zak farmer’s daughter, who is now a prostitute.

Iberin denounces the Zikish landlord for despoiling the Zakish maiden and ruining her life, and sentences him to death.

The farmer doesn’t give a hoot about his daughter’s sex life – her career choice seems fine to him – but he likes the death sentence part, and becomes a big fan of the Governor rather than joining his natural allies, the Sickle League.

- DC Theatre Scene