Presented by Liars and Believers
Directed by Jason Slavick
Featuring Enrique Babilonia, Jesse Garlick, Ben Heath, Karina Ithier, Glen Moore, Hampton Richards

March 12-22, 2026
The Foundry
101 Rogers Street,
Cambridge MA

Review by Maegan Clearwood

CAMBRIDGE, Mas. — For centuries, the character of The Fool has used laughter to shed light on ugly existential truths. The End is Nigh walks in the clown-sized footsteps of Samuel Beckett and adds a dash of modern-day dystopian gameshow literature (think Squid Games or The Running Man), resulting in a theatrical collage that is brutally honest and surprisingly heartfelt.

The play, created by the Liars & Believers ensemble (with direction by Jason Slavick), invites audiences to cheer for the filming of “The End is Nigh,” the last television show to survive the apocalypse. Cutthroat host Consuela Hobbs (Hampton Richards) and her musical assistants (Jesse Garlick and Enrique Babilonia) drag three clown contestants onto the set, hoping that all three die gruesome, TV-worthy deaths.

The trio (played by Ben Heath, Karina Ithier, and Glen Moore) are subjected to a series of torments at hooves of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Disease, Famine, War, and (as this week’s mystery Horse) Ecological Disaster. At first glance, the contestants are hopeless against the threats of gunfire and starvation, but they persevere by defying Consuela’s assumption that they will tear each other down to survive. At every horrific turn, they save each other.

The juxtaposition between existential horror and slapstick allows the ensemble to tap into fundamental truths about what it means to be human in a world on the edge of disaster. The three clowns can’t articulate a sophisticated analysis of late-stage capitalism, but they can use pantomime to express despair over another’s pain. They deliver a profound, instinctive wisdom that many humans have been trained to ignore: that the individual cannot survive at the expense of the communal.

The exact circumstances of this apocalyptic world are left hazy, but its impacts are viscerally felt. Costumes and props are crafted out of the crumpled, plastic debris that would wash up after an ecological catastrophe (costume design by Kristen Connolly). When the Horsemen appear, they manifest every squelch and hiss of the desiccated landscape (sound design by Matan Rubinstein). Even the subtitle projections are off-kilter. Every inch of the stage seems to be on the verge of collapse.

The End is Nigh is perfectly paced. The gags are smart but never outstay their welcome, and the format of a three-round gameshow (interspersed with sponsorship ads, of course) sets the audience up for an experience that is both familiar and utterly unreal.

Absurdist comedy is an apt theatrical tradition to tap into in this political moment, but it’s one that often leaves audiences feeling hollow and hopeless. Liars & Believers laughs in the face existential despair, but resists wallowing in nihilism. Instead, out of the gunk and grime of apocalyptic horror, the ensemble finds a sliver of humanity, reminding us that a way forward is possible.

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