Trumpery
by Peter Parnell

"TRUMPERY is a tightly focused study of Darwin, his family and his intellectual circles in the years just before and after the 1859 publication of his earth-shaking, faith-shattering book about natural selection…Mr. Parnell manages to conjure unexpected jokes from the unlikeliest of subjects…He also puts firm flesh on Darwin and his colleagues, who might have come across as fossils.” —The New York Times. ”The play makes a sly running comparison between scientists' struggle for priority and the animalistic survival struggle embodied in Darwin's theory. Parnell frames this action in a familial version of the big battle, still going on today, between believers in Christianity and evolution: Darwin's refusal to acknowledge a spiritual cause behind his scientifically observed findings gets locked in mortal combat with his wife's grief over their dying daughter…Parnell makes this personal side of the play riveting…“ —Village Voice. ”…A spellbinder…A play of ideas that resonates today as s"

— Variety