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I am currently editing the existing article on Vaclav Havel's The Memorandum. Below is the current version, copy/pasted from the page for reference.

Josef Gross, a director of an unnamed organization, receives a memorandum written in Ptydepe, a constructed language, about an audit. He finds out that Ptydepe was created to get rid of similarities between words, such as fox and box, and emotional connexions. He tries to get someone to translate the memorandum for him, and gradually becomes opposed to the use of Ptydepe. Gross finally finds a reluctant secretary named Maria who explains that, while she can translate the memorandum, she does not yet have a permit to do so. The next day, his deputy Jan Ballas takes over Gross's job. Gross becomes a "staff watcher", someone who spies on the workers of the unnamed organization. Meanwhile, Maria gets fired for translating Gross's memorandum. The last few Ptydepe learners in the organization give up learning. After a while, Ballas gives his job back to Gross. Ptydepe is replaced with another language, Chorukor, one with very extreme similarities between words so as to make learning it easier, but finally it is decided to get back to the mother language. The play ends up with most of the characters going to lunch.

The Memorandum[edit]

The Memorandum is a play by Czeckoslovakian writer and politician Vaclav Havel, first published (as Vyrozumení) in 1966. It was first produced at the Theatre on the Balustrade in Prague in 1965. In New York City, a production at the Public Theater won Havel an OBIE award in 1969. It is one of his most popular plays, and has been translated into many languages and performed world-wide. Although it was written as a response to the political environment of Czeckoslovakia at the time, its revelation of the detrimental effects of bureaucracy on the human psyche and human accomplishment still resonates with contemporary audiences. In particular, the play shows how language, logic and meaning can become antithetical to their own purpose in the hands of bureaucrats.

Characters[edit]

Josef Gross Managing Director
Jan Ballas Deputy Director
Otto Stroll Head of the Translation Center
Alex Savant Ptydepist
Helena Chairman
Maria Secretary at the Translation Center
Hana Secretary to the Managing Director
Mark Lear Teacher of Ptydepe
Ferdinand Pillar
George Staff Watcher
Peter Column A clerk
Mr. Column
Three Clerks

Plot[edit]

The play takes place within three different (but nearly identical) rooms within a large company. The unnamed organization could be either governmental or private. In the first scene, it is morning, and Josef enters his office and begins going through his mail. Within the stack he finds a memorandum, which clearly upsets him, and he begins to read it aloud. The memorandum is written in Ptydepe, an invented language, and is completely unintelligible. While Gross reads, Ballas and Pillar enter quietly, and remain unnoticed until Ballas coughs. (This silent entrance finally announced by a cough is repeated by Ballas and Pillar throughout the play.) They have come to request a new "incoming mail book," (a ledger for recording incoming mail.) The red tape involved in acquiring a new one is explained, and Gross decides to cut through it and hands them some money so they can buy a new one. This decision by Gross (coupled with an incident, mentioned later in the text, where he took an office stamp home to complete work on his own time, during which his young child may have played with it,) are later exploited by Gross' opponents in their attempt to shift the power structure of the organization. After Ballas and Pillar leave, Hana enters, props a mirror on the typewriter at her desk, sits, and begins to comb her hair. Gross asks her about the language of the memorandum, she reveals it is in Ptydepe, a "new office language being introduced into our organization." She then obtains permission to go buy milk and exits, after which Ballas and Pillar enter again.