Written By Ruby Blinkhorn

 

​KXT x NIDA, New Writers New Works Festival

KXT on Broadway, May 2026

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With Nat Jobe

        Luke Fewster

        Mark Langham

        Leon Walshe

        Diego Retamales

        Yasna Delo

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Direction Mathew Lee

Set & Costume Design Alice Vance

Lighting Design Frankie Clarke

Composition & Sound Design Cameron Smith

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In 897 AD, Rome, newly elected Pope Stephen is haunted by the legacy of his predecessor, Formosus, whose corrupt papacy decimated the Church’s public image. Amidst pressures from the King of Italy, a suspicious number of cardinals ‘falling’ down the Vatican stairs, and the antics of horny priests, Pope Stephen faces an impossible dilemma.

 

Either bring the corpse of Formosus to trial posthumously and face eternal damnation, or stay faithful and risk political assassination. As Stephen’s morality wavers, so does his grip on reality, his descent into madness resulting in a bloody crescendo of chaos, betrayal, and several dead pigeons.

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Like all good parables, some of this actually happened. 

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This new play by Ruby Blinkhorn is bold, juicy, and blasphemous, reckoning with the crumbling of institutions - both religious and political. It’s funny, sexy, and cutting… the church would absolutely hate it.

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