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"My father did not love me. Therefore I chose to cease loving him". Sir Thomas More, Catholic Saint and hero of Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons, was in reality a more complex individual then his early hagiographers may suggest. His darker, more ambivalent nature has been uncovered by their modern successors. Howard Barker, historian and poet as well as playwright, has extended this exploration into terrain which may be recognisable to those familiar with his other great-invented histories: Victory and The Europeans. Based on real events and individuals, Brutopia provides a wholly imagined ground for moral challenge and speculation. It charts the painful progress towards self-definition of More's unloved daughter, Cecilia, as she constructs a counter-blast to her father's most famous work, Utopia: 'In Brutopia love was impossible and anger took its place. This anger was in certain ways indistinguishable from love'. Complex, blackly humorous (Henry VIII is another Barkerian monster-hero in the lineage of Charles II and the Emperor Leopold in the earlier plays) and provocatively opaque, Brutopia promises to be an unforgettable experience for actors and audience alike - a rare opportunity to experience Barker's unique voice.

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Author: Howard Barker