The Fever

Synopsis

In a feverish monologue, a privileged Western traveller wrestles with their complicity in global inequality and injustice while staying in a hotel in a poor country.

The unnamed narrator, struck by a sudden illness in a foreign hotel room, embarks on a stream-of-consciousness exploration of their life of comfort and the stark contrast with the poverty surrounding them. As their fever rises, they confront the violence and exploitation that underpin their privileged existence, grappling with guilt, self-justification, and the possibility of radical change. Through vivid recollections and imagined scenarios, the narrator dissects the nature of wealth, class, and moral responsibility in a world of vast inequality.

Wallace Shawn’s intense, thought-provoking monologue challenges audiences to examine their own role in global systems of oppression. By blurring the lines between reality and hallucination, The Fever creates a claustrophobic, dream-like atmosphere that forces a reckoning with uncomfortable truths about Western privilege and the human cost of comfort.