Catastrophe is a 1982 short play written by Samuel Beckett at the invitation of the Association Internationale de Défense des Artistes (Association for the protection of persecuted artists). The play had a political theme and was dedicated to then imprisoned Czech reformer and playwright Václav Havel, who was instrumental in toppling the communism in Czechoslovakia in the late 1980’s. After the split, Havel went on to serve as the first president of Czech Republic for a period of ten years.
