Václav Havel, one of Czechoslovakia's great playwrights and a renowned political maverick, received international attention in the summer of 1979 when he and other "dissidents" were imprisoned by Czech authorities. The Memorandum, written and performed during Czechoslovakia's era of relative political freedom in the 1960s, is a provocative and witty assault on the madness of "efficiency" peculiar to total bureaucracy. In a large office, and unknown to the Managing Director, a new language called "Ptydepe" is installed as the official means of inter-office communication, despite the fact that it is known to only a handful of people, that only the most resolute can learn it, and that it is, when learned, almost impossible to use. The Memorandum was first produced in the country by Joseph Papp in 1968, and received wide critical acclaim, including the 1967-8 Obie Award for Best Foreign Play. -- Provided by publisher.… (more)