The Duchess [of Malfi] | The Lyceum | Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh". lyceum.org.uk. 17 May 2019 . Retrieved 2023-01-15. Sloane Square’s Royal Court is London’s theatre du jour. Challenging productions, new British talent and atmosphere of radicalism ensure it’s every thespian’s first port of call, despite the well-heeled, un-groovy location.

How To Hold Your Breath, Royal Court Theatre - The Arts Desk How To Hold Your Breath, Royal Court Theatre - The Arts Desk

To save this article to your Dropbox account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Dropbox account. Tom Stoppard for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Wole Soyinka for The Interpreters (shared) (1967)Harris’ writing is driven by the need to challenge representations of women in theatre. To that end, her plays place women at the centre of the story – relatable women, who are not defined simply by their gender or romantic relationships. This has resulted in a new legacy of leading roles for women in British theatre. Among this canon is How to Hold Your Breath, a modern morality play that reflects the contemporary refugee crisis. The play acts as a response to Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Woman of Szechwan, in which the titular character invents an alter ego to escape from a life that, because of her gender, is entirely devoid of agency. Whereas Brecht suggests that women must deny their femininity to effect change, Harris updates the narrative to portray a woman who remains true to herself, and who represents all of humankind in her search for agency. Now in the realms of fantasy, the play appears to become a magical Faustian fable, yet still just about rooted in reality. However, Harris steers the play in another direction where reality fractures in a journey that increasingly becomes a nightmare. Society and the economy disintegrate around them as the women’s trip turns into a desperate bid to flee as illegal immigrants to safety in Africa. StephensSimon There are some plays which have moments in that, in a totally thrilling way, you wish you’d written. How To Hold Your Breath had handfuls. Professor Zinnie Harris FRSE - The Royal Society of Edinburgh". The Royal Society of Edinburgh . Retrieved 2018-03-14.

How to Hold Your Breath - Zinnie Harris | Culture Whisper Review: How to Hold Your Breath - Zinnie Harris | Culture Whisper

By using this service, you agree that you will only keep content for personal use, and will not openly distribute them via Dropbox, Google Drive or other file sharing services Among these adaptations, This Restless House (2017), Harris’ version of Aeschylus’ Oresteia, imagines Clytemnestra not as someone capable of murder, but as a woman more like herself with no intention to kill. [3] Her upcoming play Macbeth (an undoing) (February 2022) revisits Lady Macbeth as a ‘complex woman intoxicated by love, power and maternal longing; a woman out of time, fighting against the constraints of medieval patriarchy.’ [4] Zinnie Harris FRSE is a British playwright, screenwriter and director currently living in Edinburgh. [1] She has been commissioned and produced by the Royal Court Theatre, Royal National Theatre, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her plays have been translated and performed in many countries across Europe and the globe.Zinnie Harris (2015 UK)". Berwin Lee London New York Playwrights Inc. 15 May 2013 . Retrieved 15 October 2018. Zinnie Harris: 'You try to destroy women at your peril' ". HeraldScotland. 11 May 2019 . Retrieved 2023-01-15. Oresteia: This Restless House - International Festival | The Lyceum | Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh". lyceum.org.uk. 22 August 2017 . Retrieved 2018-10-12. Dana is so upset that, the next day, she almost misses a presentation about “the customer experience” that she has to do for work. The nightmare deepens. Dana’s sister, Jasmine, tries to help. But she has her own intimate concerns. The pair eventually set off on a journey across Europe. The names Berlin, Budapest and the Adriatic drift through this symbolic itinerary. The nightmare deepens. More and more. Yet just as the devil persecutes them, so they acquire a guardian angel in the shape of an ever-helpful Librarian. Always on hand to offer a parody of self-help books, he has suggestions for every occasion.

Zinnie Harris Drama Online - Zinnie Harris

To save this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you used this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your Google Drive account. Harris places her protagonist in an Odyssean role as she traverses the storms brewing in European society. Maxine Peake, Hamlet Star and no stranger to leading roles, commands this position with ease. Strong support comes from Christine Bottomley, whose delivery of a monologue about the death of her child is awful and mesmerising, Oresteia: This Restless House - National Theatre Scotland". National Theatre Scotland . Retrieved 2018-10-15. Valid from 14th February to 14th March 2015. Term and conditions apply. Offer is valid Tuesday - Saturday from 14th February to 14th March 2015. Subject to availability. Prize is as stated and cannot be transferred or exchanged. Along the way Dana is guided by a mysterious character known as the Librarian (Peter Forbes), who supplies her with a series of ‘how to’ books.

Harris was born in Oxford and brought up in Scotland. She studied zoology at Oxford University, followed by an M.A. in Theatre Direction at Hull University. Themes and context [ edit ] Art is meant to reflect reality, however, too often it only shows one side of the story. It is no secret that art has, for a long time, had a gender problem and, despite the extraordinarily varied canon of British theatre, it is no exception. All too often, women are excluded from the picture or, where they are its focus, the framing is limited to traditionally feminine situations. While theatre is full to bursting with ‘everyman’ roles, the ‘everywoman’ has been notable mostly by her absence. However, at the heart of the play is Dana’s own journey from a quiet, normal life working in Berlin to a woman driven to extreme measures by the suffering she later endures. Despite the bizarre and increasingly unreal situations that Dana finds herself in, Maxine Peake keeps the character grounded and believable with a gritty stubbornness as she struggles for survival. In a strong performance, Christine Bottomley takes Dana’s sister from sassy best friend to a creature broken by circumstance. Peter Forbes’ ever-helpful librarian injects humour as he offers increasingly absurd self-help books such as “How to Spot Danger and Know How to Deal with It” and “How to Catch up with the Times as They Change”. Harris’ original play, The Scent of Roses, had its world premiere at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in 2022, [22] followed by a revival of Further than the Furthest Thing at the Young Vic in London the following year. [23] Directing work [ edit ] Zinnie Harris (2015 UK)". Berwin Lee London New York Playwrights Inc. 15 May 2013 . Retrieved 2018-10-15.