New writing from Chile and India for the Royal Court’s International Playwrights series
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
The Royal Court presents a selection of readings by Chilean playwrights from 10 to 14 September and a new play from India, The Djinns of Eidgah, in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs as part of its ground-breaking International Playwrights project supported by the Genesis Foundation.
To read more about the Genesis Foundation’s relationship with the Royal Court Theatre, please click here.
Full listings information below.
New Plays from Chile
by David Arancibia Urzua, Florencia Martínez Echevarría, Bosco Israel Cayo Álvarez, Camila Le-Bert, Claudia Hidalgo
10 Sep – 14 Sep
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
The Royal Court has been working with emerging playwrights in Chile since April 2012. Over the last year UK playwrights Leo Butler and Nick Payne travelled to Santiago three times with the Royal Court’s Associate Director International Elyse Dodgson to work with a group of 12 outstanding young writers on creating new plays inspired by contemporary Chile. They were joined on the final visit by International Associate Richard Twyman when excerpts from all of the plays were presented to a local audience at Teatro de la Palabra (Theatre of the Word) in Santiago. This project was undertaken in partnership with the British Council, the Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes, Chile and the Festival Internacional de Teatro Santiago a Mil.
Five plays have been selected for a series of readings, which take place in the week that marks the 40th anniversary of the military coup (11 September 1973) that overthrew Salvador Allende’s democratic government. These plays give us a rare insight into life in Chile today, from a traditional Mapuche community in the rural south to contemporary, urban Santiago, reflecting the painful legacy of dictatorship still alive in the memories of the Chilean people.
Tuesday 10 September, 9pm
Ñuke (Mother)
by David Arancibia Urzua
translated by William Gregory
In Chile’s rural south, Carmen sees her native Mapuche community demonised, her family invaded and her ancient way of life threatened by a seemingly unstoppable outside world. As her neighbours seek to resist while the country stands ambivalent to their plight, how long will this mother hold out before her stoicism reaches breaking point?
Wednesday 11 September, 8pm
The Red Set
by Florencia Martínez Echevarría
translated by Simon Scardifield
A woman lies deep in a coma as her dutiful family gathers to watch over her. Sibling rivalry, political guilt and economic worries build as the weeks and months pass by. The city stirs outside, but the once militant patient languishes unconscious, and her hospital bed becomes both refuge and prison for her fretful children.
Thursday 12 September, 9pm
Negra, the General’s Nurse (Negra, la enfermera del General)
by Bosco Israel Cayo Álvarez
translated by William Gregory
Times have changed. Viewed now with disgust by the nation whose leader she once so proudly served, a nurse takes refuge in the arid northern mountains of her birth. Reunited with her family, she sets about forging a new life, but the vengeance of a people, and of the very earth, may not be so easy to escape.
Friday 13 September, 9pm
Chan!
by Camila Le-Bert
translated by William Gregory
It’s a long flight home and a bumpy landing for Aurora and José, two Chilean graduates whose love blossomed while studying in New York. Back in Santiago, they struggle to adapt to the realities of adult life. The fast-mutating skyline belies a city still weighed down by history, and what once made sense in Brooklyn looks flawed in the shadow of the Andes.
Saturday 14 September, 2pm
That Thing I Never Shared with You (Ese Algo Que Nunca Compartí Contigo)
by Claudia Hidalgo
translated by William Gregory
After years of estrangement, a father and daughter are reunited over an uneasy breakfast. As her son prepares for a school day he will once again miss, the daughter reveals the reason for her recent isolation, little realising that her own confession will uncover painful secrets left locked away for decades.
That Thing I Never Shared with You will be followed by a panel discussion with the playwrights on the challenges of writing new plays in contemporary Chile, chaired by Associate Director International Elyse Dodgson.
Tickets for all readings £8 per reading (£6 if booked with another reading) available at www.royalcourttheatre.com 020 7565 5000
The Djinns of Eidgah
by Abhishek Majumdar
directed by Richard Twyman
Fri 18 Oct – Sat 9 Nov 2013
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs
“It is not a war of right and wrong. For cars and jobs. Of books and blankets. It’s a war of the living and the dead. Between those who are fighting for tomorrow and those who are laying down their lives for eternity.”
Ashrafi and Bilal are orphaned siblings stranded and defined by the troubles in Kashmir. 18 year old Bilal is the pride of the region, part of a teenage football team set for great heights, and pushed to the limits by the violence around them. Haunted by hope, his sister is caught in the past, and Bilal is torn between escaping the myths of war and the cycles of resistance.
Interweaving true stories and testimonies with Islamic storytelling, the play paints a magical portrait of a generation of radicalised kids, and a beautiful landscape lost to conflict.
“One of the best plays of recent times”
The Mumbai Theatre Guide
Djinn
n. pl. jinn also djinn
In Muslim legend, a spirit often capable of assuming human or animal form and exercising supernatural influence over people.
The Royal Court has worked with emerging playwrights in India for over ten years. Abhishek Majumdar’s The Djinns of Eidgah was developed as part of a project in collaboration with Rage Productions Mumbai and the British Council in 2010, which challenged 12 writers from all over India to write a play asking urgent questions about their changing country. The final plays were all performed in their original language as part of the Writers Bloc Festival at the Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai in January 2012 and a selection, including The Djinns of Eidgah, were then chosen to be performed as readings at the Royal Court in November 2012.
Abhishek Majumdar is an Indian playwright and director who grew up in Delhi and now lives in Bangalore. He writes in English, Hindustani (Hindi/Urdu) and Bangla. He is the artistic director of the Indian Ensemble and a winner of the Metro Plus Playwriting award for his play Harlesden High Street which was produced by Tara earlier this year. His other work includes Rizwaan (Urdu/ English), Lucknow ‘76, An Arrangement of Shoes and Afterlife of Birds. His latest play as a director, Gasha (Hindi/ Urdu/ Kashmiri) won the best play award at the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards, New Delhi. He studied theatre at LISPA (London International School of Performance Arts) and attended the Royal Court International Residency in 2011 to continue his work on The Djinns Of Eidgah which was produced at the Writers Bloc Festival and in other parts of India in 2012.
Richard Twyman directs. International Associate at the Royal Court, he recently directed PIIGS for Open Court. Richard directed The Djinns of Eidgah for Rage Theatre in Mumbai as part of the Writers Bloc Festival. He has worked extensively at the RSC, including on The Histories Cycle which won Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Ensemble & Best Revival and the Evening Standard Editor’s Choice Award, and for which he directed Henry IV Pt II. His other credits include Ditch at the Old Vic Tunnels/HighTide, Dr Marigold & Mr Chops at Bath Theatre Royal, Sixty-Six Books at the Bush Theatre and Give Me Your Hand (nominated for the Drama Desk Award 2012 for Outstanding Theatrical Experience), at the Irish Rep, New York.
The Djinns of Eidgah is presented as part of International Playwrights: A Genesis Foundation Project, with additional support from the British Council.